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GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 

FRONTISPIECE LIFE OF GENERAL LEK 



THE LIFE OF 



General Robert E. Lee 



By G. MERCER ADAM 



THE LIFE-CAREER AND MILITARY 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GREAT 
SOUTHERN GENERAL, WITH A 
RECORD OF THE CAMPAIGNS OF 
THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA 




I, 
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



A. L. BURT COMPANY, jt j» 
jt PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK 









copTKiogrr 1905 
By A. U BURT COMPANY 

UPB OP GKNKRAI. ROBRRT & US 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

I. Introductory 1 

II. Birth, Youthhood, and Early Career 17 

III. In the Mexican War 27 

IV. The Interval between the Mexican War and the 

War for the Union 44 

V. The Opposing Forces Preparing for Conflict 60 

VI. The Drama Opens 'J'2 

VII. The Campaign against Pope in Northern Vir- 
ginia, and the Second Battle of Bull Run 95 

VIII. The Maryland Campaign 104 

IX. The Fredericksburg Campaign (Oct.-Dec, 1862) 

and the Edict of Emancipation 119 

X. The Chancellorsville Campaign and Battle 129 

XI. The Second Invasion of the North, and the 

Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) 146 

XII. Lee Retreats to Virginia and Winters behind the 

Rapidan 166 

XIII. The Wilderness Campaign 175 

XIV. Operations on the South Side of the James River, 

and the Siege of Petersburg 191 

XV. The Autumn of 1864, and the Winter of 1864-65. . 212 
XVI. Operations in Georgia, Tennessee, and the Caro- 

linas in the Winter of 1864-65 239 

iii 



iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. The Close of the Long Struggle 249 

IVIII. The Retirement from Petersburg and Richmond. 266 
XIX. Grant's Peace Overtures to Lee, and the Surren- 
der at Appomattox 276 

XX. General Lee installed as President of Washington 

College, Lexington, Va : 298 

XXI. Evening Shadows, and Death 311 



PREFACE. 

Though more than a generation has now 
elapsed since General Eobert E. Lee passed from 
the scenes of his illustrious deeds, public interest 
in the great soldier and his career is still active, 
and turns with increasing curiosity to any attrac- 
tive recital of the incidents in his eventful life — 
many as are the biographies that have already 
been published of him. Nor is this perennial 
interest in the loved hero of ^^ a Lost Cause " to be 
wondered at, when we recall not only the histori- 
cal importance of the long struggle in which he 
so nobly fought, and against such heavy odds ; but 
the remarkable military ability and eminently 
high character of the man whose career is identi- 
fied with the great conflict, and whose life-story 
is throughout so attractive and inspiring. 

The era is now passed when, in the North, Con- 
federates and their sympathizers were hotly stig- 
matized as '^ rebels," and when their attitude and 
their caiise were aspersed as hateful as well as 
treasonable. To-day, the drama of the Civil War 

iii 

V 



iv PREFACE. 

has gone into the limbo of history, and can now 
be written about dispassionately and, even on the 
Southern side, with admiring Northern curiosity 
and interest. This is one of the manifest advant- 
ages the modern-day writer has in dealing with the 
events of the distracting and calamitous period, 
and in reviewing the whole story with calm delib- 
eration and historic impartiality. Another and 
special advantage has the narrator of the era's 
annals, when, as is the present case, he is writing 
biography as well as history, and has so entranc- 
ing a theme to deal with as the life-career and 
achievements of so distinguished and revered an 
actor in the tragedy of the Civil War as General 
Kobert E. Lee. For the latter and his estimable 
character the present writer has always had the 
highest regard, and even veneration ; and though 
this perhaps may not shield him from criticism 
should there be found shortcomings in the within 
work, it ought at least to placate the reader 
towards the author of it, if he is also an admirer 
of Lee, and lead him to be at once indulgent and 
friendly. 

G. M. A. 



LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 



In attempting to write a record of the Life and 
Career of General Eobert E. Lee, the great com- 
mander of the Southern Army in the Civil War, 
the author undertakes the work with some diffi- 
dence and misgiving. This is occasioned, in part, 
by a sense of responsibility in undertaking so im- 
portant a task — a task that had already been so 
well achieved by other and prominent biographers 
of '' the hero of a Lost Cause " ; and in part also, 
by a doubt in the present writer's mind of being 
able to do adequate justice to so eminent an actor 
in the drama of his time, who was, moreover, one 
of the greatest soldiers and most clever military 
tacticians of the past century, and, withal, a 
splendid type of Christian manhood. Here, how- 
ever, the writer's hesitation ends, and the im- 
pelling motive finally becomes admiration — long 



2 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

and heartily entertained — for the noble theme of 
this volume, and the ambition to add another, 
and it is hoped a not unworthy tribute, to the 
fame of the illustrious General, who was person- 
ally not only greatly beloved and highly esteemed 
in his day, but whose professional eminence 
among the renowned commanders of the war is 
conceded by every critic and writer of distinction 
who has dealt with its tragic annals. 

But great as is the niche filled by the grand old 
soldier in the history of the Southern side of 
the Civil War contest, we must remember that 
this is not all we have to deal with in relating the 
life and military exploits of the man, since long 
before the outbreak of the War of the Eebellion 
and his espousal of the interests of his native 
State in that dire struggle, Lee had had a length- 
ened, varied, and honorable career of service in 
the Army of the United States. In that service, 
not only had he won distinction as chief engineer 
officer and active combatant in the War with 
Mexico, where he rendered heroic and conspicuous 
service at the siege of Vera Cruz, and was 
wounded in the assault ; but was, moreover, of 
invaluable service to the commander of the ex- 
pedition, General Winfield Scott, in his council 
of officers, as well as in important reconnoissances, 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

in planting batteries, in conducting columns 
from point to point under fire during the assault 
upon the place, and taking part in the onerous and 
often perilous operations of the siege. For this 
highly efficient work he was repeatedly mentioned 
in the General's despatches ; while from the cam- 
paign as a whole he issued, as it has been said, 
*' crowned with honors and covered with brevets 
for gallant and meritorious conduct." After this 
we find Lee engaged in the important duty of con- 
structing defensive works at various points for the 
Washington government ; and during the year 
1852-55, he acted as commandant of the Military 
Academy at West Point, of which he was himself 
a distinguished graduate. Later on, Colonel Lee 
was transferred from the Engineers to the Cavalry 
branch of the service, when he held for a time 
responsible posts in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, 
and Texas, and was at Harper's Ferry, West Vir- 
ginia, at the era of the John Brown raid. When 
Civil War loomed upon the scene, Lee, as we 
shall ere long see, had reached his fifty-fourth 
year, and had thirty-two years of honorable serv- 
ice to his credit in the national army. Moreover, 
so conspicuous had been his career, and so highly 
esteemed was he as an officer and a gentleman, 
that, had he remained in the service of the Unionj 



4: LIFE OF GENERAt LEE. 

his name, ifc is well known, was designed to be 
brought before the military authorities of the 
nation and that favorably, as the successor in the 
chief command of the army to the then aged 
warrior. General Winfield Scott. Nor, at the 
crisis that then fell upon the country, was Lee 
actuated by caprice or mere partisanship in tak- 
ing sides with the South in the calamitous war that 
was about to ensue and drench the land in fratri- 
cidal blood. His attitude was far otherwise ; for 
at first we know that he regarded Secession as 
anarchical, if not treasonable, and looked with 
grave apprehension upon the threatened rupture 
of the Union, and was ill at ease at the prospect 
of the disseverance of his own relations with the 
North and the breaking of the ties, professional 
and social, that had hitherto connected him with 
its military service. The slavery question did not 
appeal to him as a cause of sectional strife, his 
chief concern being the attitude of his native 
State in the unhappy prospect of war, for to his 
loved Commonwealth of Virginia he was chiyal- 
rously loyal, and if strife was to come he felt that 
he could not draw his sword against her and her 
interests. This was his answer to his friend and 
superior officer, General Winfield Scott, as well 
as to the Hon. Montgomery Blair, son of the then 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

Postmaster-General of Washington, who was au- 
thorized to offer Lee command of the Federal 
army if he would remain stanch in his fidelity 
to the Union. In deserting the Northern cause, 
he asserted that he could not consult his own feel- 
ings entirely, so strong was his allegiance to his 
own section of the country as well as faithful his 
attachment to his own State. '* Save in defense 
of my State," he feelingly wrote in the Spring of 
1861 to General Scott, in asking to be relieved of 
his command, ^^I never desire again to draw my 
sword." After resigning his commission in the 
Federal service, his own State having by this 
time prepared to withdraw from the Union and 
make the call upon her many brave sons to rally 
to her standard and espouse the Southern side in 
the pending struggle, Lee repaired to his Virginia 
home as a private citizen, while deprecating war 
and trusting that sectional strife would not break 
out, but that a peaceful solution would yet be 
formed of the grave problems that were then 
a menace to the nation. Unhappily, war, and not 
peace, was to be the issue of the distracting times, 
for already seven States, in accordance with con- 
vention ordinances, had taken themselves out of 
the Union, and at Montgomery, Alabama, had 
organized a separate government under the desig- 



e LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

nation of the Confederate States of America. 
A little later on, the other sister States of the 
South joined the new Confederacy, whose capital 
was Eichmond, Va. ; while its president, provis- 
ionally, became Jefferson Davis, formerly a mem- 
ber of the U. S. House of Eepresentatives and 
national senator, who arrived at Kichmond, May 
29th (1861), and was duly installed in office. 
Meanwhile, Virginia had declared for Secession 
and joined the Confederacy, and Lee, having been 
nominated by the Grovernor of his own State as a 
delegate to the Virginia Convention, he now re- 
paired to Eichmond, where he was enthusiasti- 
cally intrusted with the chief command of the 
Virginia forces and confirmed in the rank of 
major-general, which high office had been con- 
ferred upon him by the Governor of his State, 
under the authority of the Legislature. 

In what estimation General Lee was held, even 
at this time in the South, may be seen from the 
reception accorded him by the Convention at 
Eichmond, on the occasion of his presentation to 
the body to receive its president's address of wel- 
come, be formally installed in the office of com- 
mander-in-chief of the military and naval force 
of the State, and accept his instructions to mobilize 
and put in the field an army for its defense and 



INTRODUCTORY. 7 

protection. The appointment, we need hardly 
say, had come unsought by him, and was con- 
firmed by the unanimous vote of the Convention, 
the fullest confidence of the body (handsomely 
vouched for by the president) being felt in his 
ability, integrity, and trusty honor, as well as in 
the high historic traditions of his family, by which 
General Lee, like his illustrious forebears, had 
always been influenced and guided, and had ever 
scrupulously respected with pardonable pride and 
becoming dignity. After a brief, modest reply 
in acknowledgment of the Convention's reposeful 
trust in him and assignment of duty, the Com- 
mander-in-chief entered vigorously upon his task 
of organizing and equipping the State forces, which 
were subsequently merged with those of the Con- 
federacy as a whole ; while Lee became one of the 
able group of general officers of the regular army 
of the Confederate States, still retaining, however, 
his chief command of the army of Virginia. 

When these momentous events were taking 
place in the South, with the formation of a Confed- 
erate Government, based on the claim of their 
leaders to State Rights, and in opposition to North- 
ern sentiment adverse to the peculiar institutions 
of the South, menaced as it was thought by the 
success of the Republican party in the election of 



8 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Abraham Lincoln, the North at last awoke to a 
sense of the reality of the situation, quickened by 
the levying of war by the seceded States, the de- 
parture of their representatives and senators from 
Congress, and the seizure of the forts and Federal 
property in the border States. The call of Presi- 
dent Lincoln for Y5,000 militia had been issued, 
and the North roused itself to action, in virtue of 
the powers vested in the Executive head by the 
Constitution and laws of the nation. The response 
to the Northern summons of troops was immediate 
and gratifying ; and following it came the blockade 
of the ports of the seceding States, the rallying of 
forces to the defense of Washington, with prepara- 
tions for the invasion of Virginia and the contem- 
plated raid southward with the design of capturing 
and occupying Eichmond, the seat of the '' rebel " 
government. 

But before proceeding with the narrative of 
events embraced in the era of the Civil War, in 
which General Lee, during the four protracted 
years of the great conflict, bore so conspicuous and 
brilliant a part, let us relate the early personal 
history of the intrepid soldier and valiant captain- 
general of the Southern army in the War of the 
Eebellion, and fill in the details of his remarkable 
career from his birth and up-bringing, with some 



I INTRODUCTORY. 9 

account of his family and the traditions of his his- 
toric ancestry and their genealogical belongings. 
In what remains of this chapter, let us first glance 
at the lineage and advent of our hero. 

Eobert Edward Lee belonged to the old Colonial 
family of the Lees of Virginia, which has given 
not a few distinguished statesmen and soldiers to 
the service of his country. The first of the family 
we learn of, Colonel Eichard Lee, came to Virginia 
in Charles the First's era from the old home of the 
Lees in Stafford Langton, Essex, England, other 
branches of the family being resident of the coun- 
ties of Bucks, Oxford, and Shrops. The home of 
the Lees in the latter shire was at Morton Eegis, 
a representative of which family branch also em- 
igrated to the New World in early Colonial times 
and settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia. 
Colonel Eichard Lee, being a sturdy adherent of 
the reigning Stuarts and the scion of an influ- 
ential English family, when he arrived in Virginia, 
naturally became a firm ally of Sir William 
Berkeley, governor of the colony, who warmly 
welcomed the newcomer as a member of the 
King's Privy Council and the monarch's nominee 
for the post of the Colonial State-secretaryship. 
Stanch royalist as he was, Lee, with Berkeley's 
assistance, kept the colony true in its allegiance 



10 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

to the Stuart cause, so long at least as the un- 
fortunate Charles I. lived ; and when Cromwell's 
Commonwealth was created he was instrumental 
in negotiating a treaty between it and the colony, 
recognizing the latter as an independent State, 
until the Eestoration gave the lordship of the 
Virginia colony back to the Stuart House, Charles 
II. being persuaded to proclaim himself King of 
Virginia, as well as of France and the separate 
kingdoms of Britain. Colonel Eichard Lee at 
length died and found a grave in Virginia, where 
he had settled with his family. One son, a name- 
sake, survived him, and as a man of fine parts 
became a member of the Colonial council. He 
married an English lady, a Miss Corbin, by whom, 
besides a daughter, who subsequently married in 
Virginia, he had five sons, all of whom rose to be 
influential men in the Colony, and by their mar- 
riages allying themselves with many well-known 
Virginia families. Of these sons, two became 
notable in the later annals of the Lee family : 
these were Thomas and Henry, the fourth and 
fifth sons, respectively, of Eichard Lee, who died 
about the year 1690. Of Henry Lee we shall 
write later on. The fourth son, Thomas, who 
resided at Stratford, Va., and there erected a 
magnificent manor-house long a inarvel among 



INTRODUCTORY. H 

the colonial homes of the Old Dominion, allied 
himself with an influential family in the colony, 
the progeny including two daughters and six 
sons. The eldest of the latter, Philip Ludwell 
Lee, in turn married and had two daughters, the 
elder of whom, Matilda, became the wife of her 
second cousin. Colonel Henry Lee, known in 
history as ** Light-Horse Harry," and the father 
(though by a second wife) of the subject of this 
memoir — General Eobert E. Lee. The third son 
of Thomas Lee, Governor of Virginia, Eichard 
Henry Lee (1732-1794), was the noted champion 
of American Independence, the patriot orator 
who, in the Continental Congress, in June, 1776, 
offered the now famous resolution that ^^ these 
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free 
and independent States." In making this free, 
bold speech the sturdy statesman of his day took 
unflinchingly the side of popular rights against 
the encroachment of the mother country, as he 
previously showed in opposing the Stamp Act, and 
in a brilliant, impressive speech now advocated 
the Declaration of Independence. It was by the 
same Congress, in July, 1775, that the historic 
"Address of the Twelve Colonies to the Inhab- 
itants of Great Britain " was adopted and trans- 
mitted to the motherland. In the closing years 



12 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

of the Eevolutionary War, Eichard Henry Lee 
took part against England in the field at the head 
of the militia of Westmoreland County, Ya. ; from 
1789 to 1792, he sat in the United States Senate, 
and though not a Federalist he warmly supported 
the Washington administration. As an orator, 
he was by his contemporaries called '^ the Amer- 
ican Cicero " and was an impressive and distin- 
guished public speaker. He was, moreover, ^^a 
man of amiable and noble character, of com- 
manding presence, excellent abilities, and self- 
sacrificing patriotism." In these respects, his 
virtues were conspicuously reflected in his 
famous son. 

We now turn back to trace the pedigree of 
Henry, fifth son of Eichard Lee, the early and 
direct ancestor of General Eobert E. Lee ; a 
distant relation of E. H. Lee, the Eevolutionary 
statesman ; and the grandfather of the distin- 
guished commander of " Lee's Legion," commonly 
known as ''Light -Horse Harry." This Henry 
Lee married a Miss Bland, by whom he had 
several children, one of whom, Henry, took a 
Miss Grymes to wife, and by her had issue three 
daughters and five sons. Of the latter, the third 
son, a Henry also (1756-1818), became the famous 
soldier of the Eevolution and the father of the 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

subject of the present Memoir. After graduating 
at Princeton, this distinguished member of the 
notable Lee family, as the present writer has else- 
where narrated, entered the Continental army, 
and at the battle of Germantown (Oct. 4, 1777) his 
cavalry troop was selected by General Washington 
as his personal body-guard. In January, 1778, 
when occupying a small stone house with a body 
of ten men, the remainder of his command being 
absent on a foraging expedition, the building was 
surrounded by 200 British cavalry, who attempted 
to take Lee prisoner, but were met with so spirited 
a resistance that they were compelled to retreat. 
Soon after this, Henry Lee was advanced to the 
rank of major, with the command of three com- 
panies of cavalry. While holding this rank he 
planned and executed the brilliant assault on the 
British post at Paulus Hook, their headquarters 
opposite the city of New York. Lee surprised 
and took the garrison under the eyes of the 
British army and navy, and safely conducted his 
prisoners within the American lines, many miles 
distant from the captured post. Than this there 
are few enterprises to be found on military record 
equal in hazard and difficulty, or are known to 
have been conducted with more boldness, skill, 
and daring activity. It was, moreover, accom- 



14 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

plished without loss, while it filled the enemy's 
camp with confusion and astonishment, and shed 
an unfading luster on American arms. In 1Y80, 
Lee was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel 
commandant of a separate legionary corps, known 
as " Lee's Legion " of light horse, and was sent to 
the Southern Department of the United States, to 
join the army under General Greene, where he 
remained until the close of the war. Lee entered 
Congress in 1787, and was governor of Virginia 
between the years 1792 and 1795, during which 
he commanded the expedition against the Whis- 
key insurgents in Western Pennsylvania. He 
sat again in Congress at the period of Washing- 
ton's death, in 1799, and, being appointed by that 
body to deliver an oration upon the character of 
the deceased first President, statesman, and war- 
rior, Lee extolled him in the terms of the since- 
famous eulogy, '^ First in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." 

Henry Lee's virtues and character have been 
extolled by many writers, for he possessed many 
of those admirable qualities of head and heart 
which, as we shall see later on, were manifested 
by his eminent son. His children had a great 
veneration, as well as affection, for him, for he 
was an excellent and kind father, a most exem- 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 

plary and, considering his time, a highly moral 
man, and an ideal type of a self-sacrificing, 
patriotic citizen. He was twice married, first to 
Matilda Lee (his second cousin), daughter of 
Philip Ludwell Lee of Stratford, Va., and when 
that lady died he was united to Anne, daughter of 
Charles H. Carter of Shirley, on the James River, 
a lady who proved a devoted wife and mother, 
and who exercised a beneficent influence upon 
her children. The latter were six in number, 
namely two daughters and four sons ; several of 
the sons, especially Eobert Edward, and Sydney 
Smith Lee, afterwards attaining eminence and 
distinction, the one in the army, and the other in 
the navy of, the Southern Confederacy. The 
father, Henry Lee, died in 1818, aged 63, his life 
having been shortened by injuries received in 
suppressing a political riot in Baltimore in 1814, 
when the house in which he was at the time 
staying, that of a Federalist editor and journalist, 
was attacked by an angry mob. The next four 
years he spent in the West Indies in the search 
for health. A biography of him, by his distin- 
guished son. General Robert E. Lee, was prefixed 
to an edition of his ''Memoirs of the (Revolu- 
tionary) War in the Southern Department of the 
United States." The work has an interest and 



16 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

value even to-day, since it is an outspoken and 
impartial record of events, based on the personal 
experience and observation of a contemporary 
narrator — those of ** Light-Horse Harry." 



CHAPTER 11. 

BIRTH, YOUTHHOOD, AND EARLY CAREER. 

HAvma in our opening chapter introduced the 
subject of this Memoir and glanced at his ancestry 
and lineage, let us now record his birth and early 
upbringing, together with such facts as are known 
of his professional education as a military cadet 
and of the characteristics of the youth as he ap- 
peared at the threshold of his bright and prom- 
ising career. The era of Eobert E. Lee's birth, 
which occurred at the family home at Stratford, 
Westmoreland County, Virginia, January 19, 
1807, was a troubled one, even for a neutral nation 
in the New "World that had cut itself adrift from 
the Old, for at the period the two great world po- 
wers of Europe, France and Britain, were engaged 
in an armed and deadly struggle for political mas- 
tery and commercial dominance. At the same era, 
Denmark, Spain, Russia, and Prussia were for a 
period drawn into the vortex ; while bombard- 
ment, invasion, and pillage were the national 
sport and burning dread of the time. At this 
grave juncture of international affairs, Napo- 
2 17 



18 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

leon was, or aimed to be, supreme on the European 
continent, while his chief adversary and check- 
mate were the British, who held undisputed sway 
on the high seas. Against each other, in the 
hotly-embraced interest of commerce, France fired 
at England her heavy-shafted bolt of the Berlin 
Decrees, which declared the British islands to be 
*^ in a state of blockade " ; while her wary though 
inveterate enemy retorted with the British Orders 
in Council, closing to neutral commerce the ports 
of the continent and authorizing the seizure of 
any neutral vessel on a voyage to any of the pro- 
hibited French ports unless such vessel had first 
touched at a British port. France rejoined by 
authorizing, in the Milan Decree, the seizure of 
any vessel that had entered a British port. In 
this furious international strife, America soon be- 
came a sufferer, since the prohibitory decrees and 
hostile attitude of France and England struck a 
heavy blow at her carrying trade, and led to the 
enactment of Jefferson's Embargo Policy, for- 
bidding the importation of goods from Britain and 
her colonies and banning intercourse. Another 
result of European ferment was to revive the 
partly slumbering animosities between America 
and the old motherland, the result of the irritating 
and humiliating right of search on board Ameri- 



BIRTH, YOUTHHOOD, AND EARLY CAREER. 19 

can vessels on the high seas and the arrest or im- 
pressment of sailors, naturalized citizens of the 
United States who had renounced their allegiance 
to Britain. The ill-feeling and strained relations 
of the two nations, once mother and child, soon 
hore fruit in the unhappy second War with Eng- 
land—that of 1812-14. 

It was at this era that the child Eobert E. Lee 
was born, an era of unhappy friction between the 
United States and the disowned mother country, 
rendered more so as the result of fruitless inter- 
national diplomacy, irritating retaliatory legisla- 
tion, and a clashing of commercial interests which 
brought about a period of non-intercourse, and, 
finally, a state of war. Within the country, 
nevertheless, it was an era of strenuous political, 
industrial, and social effort, in the building up, 
by its sturdy nation-makers, of the youthful 
American Eepublic. The war, costly as it was to 
the young nation and a heavy drain upon its yet 
slender financial resources, had its compensations, 
not only in withdrawing the Eepublic from the 
complications of Old World politics, but in impart- 
ing to it a larger measure of self-reliance and in- 
dependence, with a feeling of increased pride in 
the successes, on land and lake, of her militia and 
marine service. It also quickened the spirit of 



20 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

enterprise over the country, which followed the 
close of the struggle, and did much to cement the 
Union and implant in the heart of the nation love 
for its grand heritage and faith in its future 
mighty destiny. 

Unfortunately for the still youthful scion of the 
Lee family, he early lost the fostering care of his 
father, who, when the hoy was hut six years old, 
had to betake himself to the West Indies in the 
endeavor to restore his shattered health. A 
father's interest in and love for the lad were more 
than compensated, however, by the devotion and 
attachment of his wise, tender mother, whose in- 
fluence upon hini was great, and to his lasting 
good. It was she who instilled in his youthful 
mind those high moral principles and that in- 
tegrity and rectitude of conduct which in after- 
years were marked traits in the character of her 
eminent son. On the latter's part, there was a 
strong reciprocal attachment and fine filial feeling, 
which shov/ed itself in a loving care and dutiful 
regard and solicitude. The need for this was the 
more urgent, as the self-sacrificing mother was at 
this period much alone, her husband being in the 
tropics, and her other sons were absent at College ; 
while of the two daughters one was as yet quite 
young and the other was in indifferent health. 



BIRTH, YOUTHHOOD, AND EARLY CAREER. 21 

Hence Robert was the one child to whom the noble 
mother looked for those attentions and that com- 
panionship which were a comfort to her, while she 
watched with earnest solicitude his careful home- 
training and strove to embue his mind with sound 
religious principles and inspire him with high 
ideals and lofty purposes in life. 

Previous to this, or, more precisely, when Eobert 
E. Lee was but four years old, the Lee family had 
removed from the old homestead at Stratford, in 
Westmoreland County (near the birthplace and 
early home of George Washington), and settled 
higher up the Potomac at Alexandria, six miles 
south of the Federal capital. The city at this 
period had, like the city of Washington itself, for 
a time fallen into the hands of the British ; and 
here, near by, at Arlington, young Lee had also 
associations with the home of President Washing- 
ton, whose relative, the daughter of George Wash- 
ington Parke Custis, he was afterwards to be 
allied with in marriage. At Alexandria Academy 
young Robert received his early education, after- 
wards passing to a more advanced institution kept 
by a Quaker, named Hallowell, who has left on 
record his high opinion of his pupil as a zealous 
student, most exemplary in his conduct and habits. 
Throughout his school career he gave the utmost^ 



22 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

satisfaction to his several masters, while he was 
popular among his fellows, being manly in his 
bearing and attractive in his manners. 

In the Spring of 1818, his father, General 
Henry Lee, when returning from the West Indies, 
had to be put ashore on the coast of Georgia as 
his death was imminent. He died at "' Dunge- 
ness," the home of a daughter of his old friend, 
General Nathanael Greene, while his son Robert 
was but in his twelfth year. The death of 
*^ Light-Horse Harry," as he was familiarly 
called, was much and widely lamented, and at his 
funeral in Georgia military and naval honors 
were paid to his remains as they were interred 
beneath 'Hhe magnolias, cedars, and myrtles of 
beautiful Dungeness." As his son Robert grew 
up and the time came when he must make choice 
of a profession, naturally he sought to follow a 
military career, like his distinguished father, the 
General. His brother, Sydney Smith Lee, had 
taken to the navy, and was already beginning to 
carve out his own career in that profession (later 
on, he was known as Commodore Lee of the 
Confederate service and father of General Fitz- 
hugh Lee, the famous cavalry commander). Ere 
long Robert succeeded in his application for admit- 
tance to the United States Military Academy, and 



BIRTH, YOUTHHOOD, AND EARLY CAREER. 23 

that famous training college for military cadets 
at West Point, he entered in 1825, and at once ap- 
plied himself to a four years' course of drill and 
hard study, taking special interest in engineering 
science, with its accompanying lectures in 
strategy and tactics, varied by guard-mounting 
and cavalry exercises. Here his excellent char- 
acter, scrupulous honor, and amenability to dis- 
cipline, coupled with his studious habits and 
ambition to stand high in his class, won him the 
respect of his instructors and the esteem and love 
of his fellow-cadets, with the honor-post of adju- 
tant of his corps. His whole course at West Point 
was that of a talented and ambitious youth who 
had high aims and an earnest purpose in life, and 
who sought to attain his objects by a preliminary 
career which should be marked by proficiency in 
his studies and an attention to them, as well as 
assiduity in the performance of his duties, which 
would win the commendation of those to whom 
he was indebted for efficient training and well- 
directed instruction and counsel. Throughout 
his four years' course, it is said, that he never 
had a demerit mark placed against his name ; 
while he graduated second in a class of forty-six, 
and at once received a commission as second lieu- 
tenant in the corps of engineers. 



2i LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

With a highly creditable standing as a ^^West- 
Pointer," Eobert E. Lee, after a brief furlough, 
entered actively on his professional career, find- 
ing employment for several years in duties, en- 
thusiastically performed, in connection with the 
coast aefenses of the United States at Hampton 
Eoads and elsewhere. Society at that era, as 
well as now, was exceedingly attractive in the 
city of Washington and its vicinity ; and to the 
handsome young lieutenant of engineers it had 
its charms, for he was well fitted to shine among 
the elite of the capital, and that not alone for his 
good looks, but also by reason of his superior 
education and fine prospects in the army, not to 
speak of his high birth and the fair repute and 
heroic traditions of his family. With the young 
matrons and belles of the capital and its adjoining 
city of Alexandria, his own home, Lieutenant Lee 
was much made of ; while he was popular among 
his own sex, and especially among the knots of 
military men always to be found at the salons 
of Society people at Washington and at the 
manor-houses in the neighborhood. At Arlington, 
the home of the Custis family, the young en- 
gineer lieutenant was at the period particularly 
welcome, for he had long known and admired the 
beautiful daughter of the house, Mary Custis, 



BIRTH, YOUTIIIIOOD, AND EARLY CAREER. 25 

the granddaughter of Martha Washington ; and 
already more than a liking for each other had 
come about, which was soon now to bring both 
within Hymen's silken bonds. Only two years 
had passed since Lee had graduated at West 
Point and received his commission in the army ; 
but while only in his twenty-fifth year he fell into 
Cupid's snares and succumbed to the irresistible 
attractions of his affianced Mary Custis. Their 
marriage speedily followed, the ceremony taking 
place within the stately mansion of Arlington 
House, replete as it was with historic interest and 
attractive by its traditions of Washington and his 
fellow-patriots of Kevolutionary days. Through 
his marriage, which was solemnized June 30, 1831, 
Lee with his wife subsequently became owners 
of Arlington, as well as of another property 
belonging to the Custis family on the Pamun- 
key Eiver, where Washington, in 1759, married 
' the widow Custis ' — a property that was ruth- 
lessly given to the flames by the Federal troops in 
the Civil War. 

After a brief honeymoon, Lee returned to his 
army duties at Hampton Eoads, but ere long was 
transferred to Washington, where he became 
assistant to the chief government engineer, and 
was consequently near to his bride and her pater- 



2G LIFE OF GENERIl LEE. 

nal home at Arlington. Promotion here came to 
him, first to a full lieutenancy and afterwards to 
a captaincy in the corps of engineers. After this, 
he acted for a time as astronomer to a commis- 
sion appointed to define the boundary between 
the States of Ohio and Michigan ; and then was 
despatched to St. Louis to engage actively in pro- 
fessional work in connection with the channel of 
the Mississippi Eiver, so as to obviate its over- 
flowing its bounds on the side opposite St. Louis, 
as well as to recover waste lands on its borders 
which at periods had been subject to inundation. 
Indefatigable as well as professionally successful 
in his work. Lee rendered admirable service in 
improving the legitimate bed of the great 
river and in artificially confining *^ the Father of 
Waters" to its natural and desirable course. 
When this important task had been accomplished, 
he was despatched to New York to strengthen 
the defenses of Fort Hamilton, which protects the 
entrance to the spacious harbor of the city ; while 
recognition of his merits otherwise came to him 
in being elected a member of the Board of Visi- 
tors at West Point and appointed one of the 
Board of Engineers, at his professional alma 
mater. 



CHAPTER III. 

IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 

At this period of his career, when he was ap- 
proaching his fortieth year, the War with Mexico 
broke out, precipitated by the independence of 
Texas, and its subsequent admission as a State 
of the Union. Besides the local attitude of Texas, 
matters between Mexico and the United States 
were complicated by the Washington adminis- 
tration insisting that the Southwestern boundary 
of Texas should be the Eio Grande. This was in 
the year 1846, when the War Department of the 
United States appointed General Winfield Scott 
to the supreme command of an expedition de- 
signed to operate in Mexican territory, and, if 
deemed expedient, invest and lay siege to Vera 
Cruz, thus opening the way for an advance upon 
the city of Mexico. Previous to this. General 
Zachary Taylor, with an American force, had 
appeared at Corpus Christi, Texas, and there, 
having increased his army, he was ordered to 
advance to the Rio Grande, which he did and 

27 



28 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

erected a fort on the river opposite Matamoros, 
with his base of supplies twenty-five miles east- 
ward at Point Isabel. Here the Mexican general 
(Ampudia) ordered Taylor to withdraw beyond 
the Neuces river, as he and his American troops 
were then on Mexican territory. This Taylor 
refused to do, but proceeded with his operations 
in the region, when the battles of Palo Alta and 
Eesaca de la Palma were fought and won ; while, 
later on, Monterey, after some resistance, capitu- 
lated. General S. W. Kearny, meanwhile, at 
the head of the Army of the West, had advanced 
from Fort Leavenworth and made conquest of 
the province of New Mexico, and at Santa Fe, in 
August, 1846, he established a provisional Ameri- 
can government, subsequently proceeding to 
California. The latter country, by this time, had 
practically been annexed, partly by means of the 
exploring expedition of Colonel Fremont, and 
partly by the joint operations of Commodores 
Sloat and Stockton. In 1848, peaceful cession of 
the territory came about, aided by the influx of 
myriads of gold-seekers, known as the " forty- 
niners ; " and California, in 1850, was lost to 
Mexico and gained as a State of the American 
Union. 

But let us now return to General Winfield 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 29 

Scott and the chief command that had been given 
him to conduct an expedition to invade Mexico, by 
way of the Gulf, effecting a landing at or near 
Vera Cruz. This inroad directly upon the enemy, 
with the design of assaulting and capturing the 
chief Mexican towns, including the capital, was 
undertaken with the view of bringing Santa 
Anna's Administration and the Eepublic of the 
Mexican States to terms, after precipitating war 
upon American arms, as it was construed by 
President Polkas government, though history 
views the matter more in the light of an unjusti- 
fiable aggression upon a weak sister nation of 
the continent. Be this as it may or may not, 
General Scott had been given his orders, which 
were to proceed to Vera Cruz, where with his own 
forces and part of those under General Kearny 
he was to invest the town, take it, and proceed to 
the interior to reduce the Mexicans to submission. 
Here was now to become the real, as it was to be 
the chief, seat of war ; and for its successful ex- 
'ploitation General Scott had brought with him a 
strong contingent of engineers and artillery, in 
addition to his cavalry and foot-soldiers. The 
divisional commands of the invading army were 
intrusted, under the Commander-in-chief, to Gen- 
erals Twiggs, Worth, and Quitman ; while several 



30 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

able engineer officers directed the assaulting opera- 
tions, among whom were Colonel Totten, Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard, and our hero, Captain Eobert 
E. Lee, who had the honor of being placed on the 
Commander-in-chief's personal staff. 

When General Scott had been assigned the task 
of taking a leading part in the war, and before 
the landing of his forces, by means of surf boats, a 
little to the south of Vera Cruz. Captain Lee ap- 
pears to have been for a time attached to General J. 
E. Wool's command, which had penetrated Mexico 
from San Antonia, across the Kio Grande, as far 
as Saltillo, to the West of Tampico. This seems 
to have been the case, for we find him writing to 
his wife from Eio Grande early in October, 1846, 
and to two of his boys from Saltillo on the day 
before Christmas. Presumably, therefore, he 
was with Wool's; contingent at the battle of 
Buena Vista (Feb. 22, 184Y) at the critical period 
in that hot but successful engagement with the 
Mexicans when Wool was joined by the force 
under General Zachary Taylor ('^Old Eough and 
Eeady " as the latter was familiarly called). 
Later on we know, however, he was summoned 
by General Scott to Vera Cruz, where he became 
one of the Commander in-chief 's war council, and, 
as we have already related, a member of his per- 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 31 

sonal staff. There, at Vera Cruz, he was joined 
for a time by his brother, Sydney, a lieutenant 
in the United States navy, then serving on the 
''Mississippi," one of the cruiser convoys of the 
invading force under Winfield Scott. We know 
also that this brother was with Captain E. E. Lee, 
for we find him serving one of the guns directed 
against the defenses of Vera Cruz from a battery 
his brother Eobert had constructed to play upon 
the town preparatory to assaulting it. The period 
was about the 22nd of March, 1847, for on that 
day the bombardment commenced and continued 
for five days, when, after a spirited defense, the 
city and the fortified Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, 
in the harbor of Vera Cruz, capitulated. Lee 
rendered admirable service in the investment 
and assault upon the place, and was specially 
mentioned for distinguished acts in General 
Scott's despatches to Washington recounting the 
operations and successful issue of the siege. 

At this period of American invasion, Mexico, 
both politically and socially, was in a distracted 
and unsettled condition. Before and after the era 
of her independence of Spain, which she secured 
in 1820, it had been given up, more or less, to 
chronic revolution. At present, the Creole gen- 
eral, Santa Anna, who had wrecked the military 



32 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

empire of Iturbide, was the dictator of the amal- 
gam of States which now represented the once 
mighty empire of Montezuma and what remained 
of the historic Spanish Conquest. The country- 
was in a parlous state, with disorganization and 
conflict going on in almost every section of the 
Eepubl'c. It had, however, purged itself of the 
taint of slavery by decrees issued in 1827, and 
again and finally, in 183Y. Against American in- 
vasion it was naturally opposed, believing that the 
United States had no righteous claim to the terri- 
tory in Texas lying to the south of the E"euces, 
and therefore it resisted Zachary Taylor's taking 
possession of the region for the American Govern- 
ment southward to the Eio Grande. As we have 
seen, the Mexican troops under Arista were re- 
peatedly defeated in opposing Taylor's aggression, 
and had also been worsted on her own unques- 
tioned side of the Eio. The Mexicans had now 
fallen back successively, but still sought to main- 
tain resistance to American arms. Of General 
Scott's campaign, so far as undertaken, we have 
also seen the result, in the surrender of Vera 
Cruz, with the capitulation of its defensive force 
and its seven thousand inhabitants. Now this 
forward movement was about to be launched, 
over some two hundred miles of difficult country. 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 33 

to the Mexican capital. It was the middle of 
April (1847) before the expedition was in shape to 
proceed, and when it did, it met its first serious 
obstacle at Cerro Gordo, fifty miles northwest of 
Vera Cruz. Here Santa Anna and his Mexicans 
had posted themselves in a strong position on ^' the 
heights around a rugged mountain pass, with a 
battery commanding every turn of the road." 

To the reconnoissance of Captain Lee and Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard, both of the Engineers corps, 
Winfield Scott was indebted for discovering a 
pathway, which a little engineering effort made 
practicable, for a flank attack upon the enemy. 
Over this route light batteries were hauled and 
placed in position for effective work ; while Gen- 
eral Twiggs' division, led by Captain Lee, ad- 
vanced and opened a fusilade which drove the 
outposts of the Mexicans from the ravine back 
upon the hill slopes of Cerro Gordo. This prelim- 
inary achievement was effected over night, and 
in the early morning of the 18th of April the 
batteries opened a destructive fire, and three col- 
umns of American troops gallantly advanced, 
while the fighting divisions of Generals Twiggs 
and Worth stormed the heights in front, and, in 
spite of a stout resistance, finally carried them, 
though at the cost of much bloodshed. Lee, per- 



34 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

sonally leading a column of men, now stole off 
to turn the enemy's left, which he at length suc- 
ceeded in doing, the Mexicans taking to flight 
down the Jalapa road, leaving behind them not 
only their dead, but much of their ammunition, 
small arms, and cannon. Our troops continued 
to press the enemy back, to Jalapa, making an 
ascent above the valley road during the day of 
over 4,000 feet, meanwhile capturing many of 
Santa Anna's men. 

For Lee's share in the successes of the day, 
General Scott paid suitable and hearty acknowl- 
edgment, besides raising him to the brevet rank 
of major. His skill as an engineer enabled him 
to be of much and varied service to the Com- 
mander-in-chief during the progress of the cam- 
paign ; while he was also highly useful in expe- 
rienced scouting work, in which his bravery and 
venturesomeness at times led him into no little 
personal peril. This was the case shortly after the 
victory at Cerro Gordo, when on a reconnoissance 
in advance of the army he escaped Mexican 
vigilance only by concealing himself all one after- 
noon under a fallen tree, until nightfall enabled 
him to issue from his hiding-place and regain 
the outposts of the invading force. A like hero- 
ism and disregard of himself characterized Major 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 35 

Lee at both Churubusco and Contreras, where, 
for his distinguished services he received a further 
step in the line of promotion, this time to the 
brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. Almost con- 
stantly in the saddle, he was not only actively 
occupied in his own important duties as an en- 
gineer officer and counsellor to his Commander- 
in-chief in the difficulties that lay in the path of 
the advance, but he was also of much service, 
when a battle was on, in carrying General Scott's 
orders to sections of his command, even at much 
peril to himself. In the interesting Memoir of 
Lee by his nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, the renowned 
cavalry commander, Major Lee's distinguished 
services in this Mexican campaign are thus at- 
tested : ^' His deeds of personal daring, his 
scientific counsels, his coup cfoeil of the battle- 
field, his close personal reconnoissances under 
the scorching rays of a tropical sun, amid the 
lighting's flash or thunder's roar, did much to 
fashion the key which unlocked the gates of the 
Golden City. The reports of his commander are 
filled with commendations of his bravery : ' That 
he was as famous for feHcitous execution as for 
science and daring ' ; that at ^ Chapultepec Captain 
Lee was constantly conspicuous, bearing import- 
ant orders ' from him, ' till he fainted from a 



36 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

wound and the loss of two nights' sleep at the 
batteries.' This veteran general," Fitzhugh 
Lee adds, '4n referring afterward to this cam- 
paign, was heard to say that his ^ success in Mex- 
ico was largely due to the skill, valor, and un- 
daunted courage of Eobert E. Lee,' and that he 
was ' the greatest military genius in America, the 
best soldier that he ever saw in the field, and that, 
if opportunity offered, he would show himself the 
foremost captain of his time.' " 

We are, however, anticipating, for there is 
considerable yet to be told of the incidents of the 
campaign ere the Mexican capital was taken and 
the unhappy war brought to a close. When the 
Mexicans fell back on Jalapa, Scott's command 
followed the enemy up, drove them out of the 
place, and pushed on and occupied Puebla. Here 
a halt of two months took place, to enable the 
American force, exhausted by the rapid advance 
during the hottest months of the year, to pull it- 
self together, await reinforcements from the 
coast, drill and make them efficient when they ar- 
rived. On August Yth, the forward movement 
again began, and by the 19th and 20th of the 
month three stubbornly fought battles took place, 
parts of one general encounter with the enemy, 
namely those of Contreras, Churubusco, and San 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 37 

Antonio. The issue of each engagement was the 
same — the rout of the Mexicans, and their rear- 
ward flight even to the gates of the capital. At 
this juncture, an armistice was mutually agreed 
upon, to permit the negotiations of the American 
commissioner, Nicholas P. Trist, who was in- 
structed to offer the Mexicans peace upon certain 
conditions before further blood was shed in the 
alternative assault upon the City of Mexico. The 
armistice, however, came to nought, and tacti- 
cally was a maladroit proposal : it lasted from 
August 23rd to September 7th. On the latter 
day the fighting was resumed, Molino del Eey 
being then attacked and carried by assault, while 
Santa Anna and his troops fled from the place. 
By the 12th of the month, the struggle was re- 
newed by the American batteries opening fire 
upon the stronghold of Chapultepec, and by an 
assault upon the place by Scott's combined force, 
which met with a desperate and bloody resist- 
ance. Finally, the place was stormed by a plucky 
dash, when the Me:5ticans became panic-stricken, 
abandoned their defensive works, and fled in con- 
fusion. 

It was here, at Chapultepec, that Lee was 
wounded, though fortunately not very seriously. 
In the campaign, other of his Southern brother- 



38 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

officers suffered also from casualties in the field 
among them being Joseph E. Johnston (later on 
the renowned Confederate commander), Long- 
street, Magruder, General Shields, Captain Mason, 
and others. The Mexican war, indeed, was an 
excellent active training-school to numbers of 
men who, in the War of the Rebellion, were to 
become distinguished under both the Federal and 
the Confederate flag. Of these, besides Eobert 
E. Lee, the following were among the Mexican 
campaigners : Ulysses S. GJ-rant, Albert Sidney 
Johnston, Joseph Hooker, Braxton Bragg, Jubal 
Early, George Gordon Meade, George B. Mc- 
Clellan, Irvin McDowell, George H. Thomas, 
Gideon J. Pillow, Ambrose P. Hill, T. J. ("Stone- 
wall ") Jackson. " Their swords, then drawn for 
victory against a common foe, " as Fitzhugh Lee 
admirably puts it, were, fourteen years later, 
*^ to be pointed against each other's breast, and 
those who slept beneath the same blanket, drank 
from the same canteen, and formed those ties 
of steel which are strongest Vv^hen pledged amid 
common dangers around a common mess-table, 
were to be marshalled under the banners of 
opposing armies. 

What the common dangers in the Mexican 
war then were, Lee himself relates with pathos' 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 39 

and fine humane feeling, in letters sent at this 
time to his home, either to his loved wife or 
to their little sons, in safe-keeping at Arlington. 
In these we see something of the man's tender, 
yet stout, courageous heart, when thoughts of 
the dear ones he has left behind him come recur- 
ringly to his mind. Of these epistles his relative 
biographer gives us some touching excerpts from a 
letter written to his young son, Custis Lee, after 
the battle of Cerro Gordo : ^^ I thought of you," 
writes the father, ''on the 18th, in the battle, 
and wondered, when the musket-balls and grape- 
shot were whistling over my head in a perfect 
shower, where I could put you, if with me, to be 
safe. I was truly thankful that you were at 
school, I hope learning to be good and wise. 
You have no idea what a horrible sight a battle- 
field is." The writer then describes to him 
the battle of Cerro Gordo, and tells him about 
the dead and dying Mexicans ; how he had them 
carried to a house by the roadside, where they 
were attended by Mexican surgeons ; of his find- 
ing by the side of a hut a little Mexican boy who 
had been a bugler or a drummer, with his arm 
terribly shattered, and how a big Mexican sol- 
dier, in the last agonies of death, had fallen on 
him ; how he was attracted to the scene by the 



40 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

grief of a little girl ; how he had the dying Mexi- 
can taken off the boy, and how grateful the little 
girl was. ^^ Her large black eyes," he said, '^ were 
streaming with tears, her hands crossed over her 
breast ; her hair in one long plait behind reached 
her waist, her shoulders and arms bare, and with- 
out stockings or shoes. Her plaintive tone of 
' Mille gracias, Signor,^ as I had the dying man 
lifted off the boy and both carried to the hospital, 
still lingers in my ear. After I had broken 
away through the chaparral and turned to- 
ward Cerro Gordo I mounted Creole, who stepped 
over the dead men with such care as if she feared 
to hurt them ; but when I started with the 
dragoons in the pursuit, she was as fierce as pos- 
sible, and I could hardly hold her." 
' Nor was Kobert E. Lee less courageous than 
tender and humane, as we learn from General 
Winfield Scott's own account in his despatches 
to Washington, or in after-reminiscences of the 
war by some of his contemporary staff officers in 
the campaign. One of the latter recounts Lee's 
daring in an action preceding the battle of Con- 
treras, '' when General Scott's troops had become 
separated on the field of Pedrigal, and it was nec- 
essary to communicate instructions to those on the 
other side of the barrier of rocks and lava. " At 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 41 

this crisis, General Scott, as set forth in his re- 
port, states that he had sent seven officers after 
sundown to give them their instructions, but all 
returned without getting through, save the gal- 
lant and indefatigable Captain Lee of the Engi- 
neers, who has been constantly with the operating 
forces. . . Subsequently Scott (to quote again 
from his biographer), while giving testimony be- 
fore a court of inquiry said: ^^ Captain Lee 
came to me from Contreras with a message from 
Brigadier-General Smith. I think about the 
same time (midnight) he, having passed over the 
difficult ground by daylight, found it just possible 
to return on foot and alone to St. Augustine in 
the dark, the greatest feat of physical and moral 
courage performed by any individual to my 
^ knowledge during the campaign." 

The successful close of the war was hailed by 
all with feelings of relief : this was especially the 
case with Colonel Lee, and indeed with the entire 
command under General Scott and his divisional 
commanders. After the brilliant assault on Cha- 
pultepec and the overpowering of the enemy at the 
gates of the capital, the City of Mexico was en- 
tered and taken possession of. Before its official 
surrender, Santa Anna and the chief civic au- 
thorities had fled from the place ; but representa- 



42 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

tives of the Kepublic were there, with whom the 
American Commissioner arranged the terms upon 
which the war was to close and the country be 
relieved of its conquering invaders. After some 
haggling, peace was finally declared, and the 
American troops, in due course, withdrew, the 
military power of Mexico having in the war 
been broken as well as humiliated. By the Peace 
Treaty, which was negotiated at Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, Feb. 2, 1848, subsequently ratified by 
both sides, the United States secured the rights 
contended for to the southwestern territory of 
Texas as far as the Eio Grande. The Treaty, 
moreover, added New Mexico and California to 
the national domain ; though a monetary com- 
pensation therefor was to be paid to Mexico, of 
fifteen million dollars, while the United States 
assumed the claims of her citizens against the Ee- 
public, who had suffered in the war, to the ex- 
tent of three and a half millions more. 

It was toward the end of May (1848) before 
Colonel Lee was free to leave the City of Mexico 
to return homeward, though a month later he was 
rejoiced once more to be at Arlington and in the 
bosom of his family. Public recognition of his ser- 
vices in Mexico came later, in 1852, when, after the 
resumption of his professional work on the Gov- 



IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 43 

ernment defenses at Baltimore, he was appointed 
superintendent of the U. S. MiHtary Academy at 
West Point. General Winfield Scott, the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, an attached and admiring friend 
of Lee, was, on the other hand, somewhat scurvily 
treated by the War Department. Owing to some 
difficulty with a subordinate general officer in 
Mexico, he had to submit to the annoyance of a 
General Court of Inquiry. Congress, meanwhile, 
applied a solatium to the wounded feelings of the 
old veteran by awarding him a gold medal and 
the thanks of the Legislature. Later, the authori- 
ties made amends to the old warrior by raising 
him to the rank of Lieutenant-General, the first 
creation of that high titular office in the United 
States army. General Zachary Taylor, the hero 
of Buena Vista and of a long list of earlier 
triumphs, fared better, having on his return from 
the Valley of the Eio Grande received the thanks 
of Congress, accompanied by a gold medal ; while 
his popularity in the nation gained him the nom- 
ination, on the Whig ticket, of the Presidency. 
His inauguration to that elevated office took place 
Mar. 4, 1849, though his death unhappily occurred 
July 9th in the following year. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INTERVAL BETWEEN THE MEXICAN WAR AND 
THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

Colonel Lee, in 1852, entered actively on his 
duties as head of the U. S. MiHtary Academy at 
West Point, from which he had himself so credit- 
ably graduated in 1829. At this period, his eldest 
son, G. W. Custis Lee, was a pupil of the institu- 
tion, and, like his father before him, stood high 
in his class and graduated two years later as 
cadet-adjutant, also following the paternal bent, 
of choosing to serve in the Engineers. Colonel 
Lee's administration of the Academy lasted for 
three years, and, like everything he did, it was 
characterized by efficiency and ability. He had 
ever a high sense of duty, and was assiduous in 
inculating it not only in his sons, but in all who 
were at any time subordinate to him. On his re- 
tirement from the superintendency of the Acad- 
emy, Lee was assigned to the Cavalry branch of 
the U. S. military service, two new Cavalry regi- 
ments having just then been raised for duty in the 

44: 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 45 

West, to give increased military protection in 
that section, where settlement was fast making 
inroads, and where, in Kansas and Texas espe- 
cially, there was at the time considerable men- 
ace from marauding bands of Indians under the 
Comanche chief Catumseh. Though hitherto 
an Engineer officer of eminence, he took kindly to 
the Cavalry service ; nevertheless, he withdrew 
from his own particular branch of the profession 
of arms, in which he had greatly distinguished 
himself, with regret. Moreover, he was fond of 
horses and much accustomed to be in the saddle ; 
while many from his own State and section of the 
country were entering the Cavalry service, after- 
wards to gain distinction in it as Confederate 
commanders. One of these was Albert Sidney 
Johnston, who was given the colonelcy of the 
second Cavalry corps, while Colonel Lee was ap- 
pointed Lieutenant-Colonel. The destination of the 
corps was Western Texas ; and thither the regi- 
ment went, after Colonel Johnston had established 
his headquarters at Louisville, Ky,, where Lt.-Col. 
Lee joined it, proceeding later to Jefferson Bar- 
racks, Missouri, thence to active duty in Texas. 

Before reaching Texas, Lt.-Col. Lee was detailed 
for service on a court-martial in Kansas, the 
occasion being the trial of an assistant army 



4:6 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

surgeon who had left his station during the prev- 
alence of an alarming epidemic. On rejoining 
the regiment in Texas, the latter became broken 
into detachments, ordered for duty over a far- 
reaching area. This was rendered necessary by 
the wide stretch of frontier the regiment had 
then to guard, there being as yet few towns and 
no railways in the Territory. Parts of it were 
scattered over the region from the Kio Grande 
far to the north-westward, Lee himself doing duty 
at one time at Ringgold Barracks, at another at 
Camp Cooper, on one of the forks of the Brazos 
Eiver, and at still another at Fort Brown. His life 
at this time could not have been much to his liking, 
for the region was still in the rough, and regiment- 
al officers of Lee's standing and eminence, cut off 
to a large extent as they were from the comforts 
and elegancies they had at home been accustomed 
to, could find little to compensate, and less to 
interest, them in a country yet in the wild state ; 
w^here the United States mails had to be trans- 
ported from post to post by armed soldiers on 
mules, often over long strips of dreary, unin- 
habited country. Nor was there any active duty 
worthy of their prowess. All there was consisted, 
for the most part, of scouting duty, performed 
amid much discomfort and frequent sickness, when 




o 
w 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE tJNION. 47 

the stations were unhealthy, and occasionally in 
no little peril from the poisoned arrows of 
treacherous Indians shot at them from ambush. 

The life was now and then varied by visits to 
dirty Indian camps, for a parley with their chiefs, 
who it was often found, however, were fine 
specimens of nature's children and magnificent 
horsemen, their nomadic life making them 
" active, vigilant, and a foe not to be despised." 

While Lee was in the West, he naturally main- 
tained a regular and affectionate correspondence 
with his family at Arlington, and longed often 
to be back to them and to civilization. At this 
period, the autumn of 1857, the death of his 
father-in-law, Mr. Custis, recalled him for a time 
to his home. The latter's wife had predeceased 
him ; and now with his own death the Arlington 
House estate came into the possession of Colonel 
Lee's wife, Mary Custis Lee, together with the 
Arlington heirlooms and family plate. Unfor- 
tunately, the fine historic property was ere long 
now to be lost to the Lees, in the calamitous out- 
break of the civil war, while the family slaves 
were given their freedom by the good-will and 
humanity of their fond master and^ mistress. 
That the sectional struggle, now about to ensue, 
was foreseen by Lee and by all thoughtful observ- 



4S LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ers need hardly be said. Though Lee personally 
took no part in politics, he could not be, nor was 
he, ignorant of the sectional strife by which it was 
preceded ; still less was he indifferent to the out- 
break of the calamity, dreadful as it was sure to 
be to the antagonists on either side. 

Already the Federal tie which had bound the 
States in one family since the Eevolution was 
loosening, owing to the growing abolition senti- 
ment in the North, which, on conscientious moral 
grounds, as well as from the fact that she was an 
industrial and commercial community, was op- 
posed to slavery in the South (an agricultural and 
cotton-growing section) and to its extension in the 
new states and territories of the Union. The 
anti-slavery sentiment was resented by the South 
as an intolerable interference with its natural, 
though peculiar, institution, which not only had 
imposed restrictions on its extension in the new 
and fast-settling regions of the country, but 
sought to proscribe and eliminate it in the South. 
y^ This resistance speedily shoyved itself in the new 
theories which had now become prevalent in the 
Southern half of the Union as to state-sovereignty 
and the so-called state-rights in the cotton- 
growing section and along the border States. The 
first practical step taken towards secession was 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 49 

manifested by South Carolina, which was the 
earliest to take action among the irreconcilable 
sisterhood in the South. This step she took Dec. 
20th, 1860, then declaring the Union dissolved, as 
far as she was concerned, and setting forth the 
reasons for her course with regard to repeal and 
the erection of an independent State government. 
The chief reason assigned was the threatened 
Federal interference with slavery, following upon 
Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency of the 
United States. A like attitude was taken by 
other of her sister States, which ere long (before 
the inauguration of Lincoln, March 4th, 1861) 
joined her in revolt : these were Mississippi, Lou- 
isiana, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas. 
These States not only seceded from the Union, 
but seized the military posts and national prop- 
erty within their several State jurisdictions. 
The motive of secession was the same in all, 
namely, unmistakable jealousy of their favored in- 
stitution of slavery, and the desire to perpetuate it 
within the area of the seceding States. The prin- 
ciple which governed their joint action was that 
embodied in the constitutional theories held and 
propounded by Calhoun, viz., that each State was 
in its own right sovereign and an independent 
entity, an interpretation of the Constitution 



50 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

radically at variance with the views held by the 
people and their leading statesmen in the North, 
who maintained that the United States was a 
nation, one and indivisible, and by their moral 
sense opposed, at least, to the extension of slavery, 
and dedicated, in so far as practicable, to free 
labor. This was the opinion held and expressed 
by Mr. Lincoln in his first Inaugural, but more 
decidedly affirmed in his message to Congress of 
July 4, 1861, where he insisted that the individual 
States had no other legal status in the national 
commonwealth than that of the Union, and that 
none of them had a Constitution independent of 
the Union ; and hence, if it is broken, or if any of 
them dissevered themselves from it, they did so 
against law and only by revolutionary process. 
In justice, it must be said, that not all the aboli- 
tionists of the North viewed Secession in this ex- 
treme and disputed light. Many, on the contrary, 
deemed the view of a centralized government as 
a national compact between all the States not to 
be broken or dissevered as an autocratic and ag- 
gressive one, fraught with peril to the stability 
and perpetuation of the Union. Among those who 
took the more cautious and reasonable side in the 
distracting controversies of the time were men 
like Daniel Webster, who, with Clay and Calhoun 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 51 

of the South, protested against the aggressions 
and heedlessness of aboUtionisin ; while men, like 
Horace Greeley and Henry Ward Beecher, were 
opposed to coercion and took action with the Border 
States as peacemakers, by desiring that the South, 
if she wished it, should withdraw in peace. As to 
the legal right of any State under the Constitution 
to secede, there were others again who took one or 
the other side of the controversy, and by their 
contentions added to the ferment and disquiet of 
the time. On this fiercely-debated question not a 
few of the best minds of the era were at issue with 
each other ; while there were those who, without 
rashly committing themselves to either side, took 
the ground, like Secretary Seward, that there was 
a ^^ Higher Law," above the Constitution, whose 
moral dictates were worthy of being imperatively 
heard, and which, as in Mr. Seward's case, con- 
demned slavery out and out, and incited the North 
to ban it by force from the nation. 

As we calmly look back now on the distracting 
period, with the knowledge we historically have of 
the issues of the contest — the result largely of the 
rabid and inflammatory appeals addressed to the 
North by the abolitionists — we can see that there 
was much reason for a more sane and restrained 
judgment, and for less of the extravagant and 



5^ LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

melodramatic censure of negro slavery and the 
fugitive slave law, to which the period was 
recklessly treated in public speeches and in parti- 
san appeals through the medium of fiction such 
as that of ^' Uncle Tom's Cabin." Even eman- 
cipation, had it been brought about slowly and 
dispassionately, was a most difficult problem, 
especially in the absence in the negro of adequate 
preliminary training for freedom, and of due 
precautionary measures for the self-interest and 
safety alike of slave and of master. Slavery 
might be a curse and a blight to the South — and 
doubtless it was, as it has been, wherever it has 
existed — but the fact that it was this hardly 
justified intemperate and vituperative denuncia- 
tion of those who treated the slave well, as it was 
the economic interest of the master, as well as 
creditable to his humanity, to do ; while it led, as 
it did, to the most untoward event in the annals 
of the nation — disunion and its frightful con- 
sequences to both sides in the prolonged and 
calamitous Civil War. 

But it is time to return to Colonel Lee and the 
theme proper of our biography. In the distract- 
ing controversies of the period we have been 
dealing with, he, as we have already indicated, 
took no personal, and still less a public, part. The 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 53 

shadows of the time were however about him, as 
they were about all patriots and true lovers of 
their country. On the subject of slavery and 
slave-emancipation, he, moreover, held pro- 
nounced, though moderately expressed, opinions. 
His letters of the era indicate that, and not only 
those written to members of his own family, but 
those forwarded to his close personal friends. In 
these we see that the controversies of the time 
were much in his thoughts, though he relied, as a 
Christian man was bound to do, on a benign Provi- 
dence to overrule human affairs for the best, and 
that in God's own good time. The evils, politi- 
cal and moral, of slavery he explicitly admits, 
though he deemed them evils no less to the white 
race than to the black. Towards the blacks, he 
tells us, his feelings are strongly enlisted, though 
he considered them immeasurably better off in this 
country than in Africa, and that not only as far as 
their physical condition went, but morally and 
socially as well. The discipline they are under- 
going here, even where it is painful, he deemed 
necessary for their further instruction as a race, 
while he hoped it would prepare them for better 
things. Their emancipation, he, however, af- 
firmed, would sooner result from the mild and 
melting influences of Christianity, than from the 



54- LIFE OF GENER'AL LEE. 

storms and tempests of fiery controversy. " While 
we see the course of the final abolition of human 
slavery is still onward, and give it the aid of our 
prayers, and all justifiable means in our power, 
we must, " he adds, ' ' leave the progress as well as 
the result in His hands who sees the end, who 
chooses to work by slow influences, and with whom 
a thousand years are but as a single day." At 
the same time, he termed Secession nothing but 
revolution, and dreaded no greater calamity for 
the country than a dissolution of the Union. 
" The framers of our Constitution," he writes, in 
January, 1861, in a letter to his son, ^^ never ex- 
hausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance 
in its formation, and surrounded it with so many 
guards and securities, if it was intended to be 
broken .by every member of the Confederacy at 
will. . . . Still," he is careful to add, '^ a Union 
that can only be maintained by swords and 
bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to 
take the place of brotherly love and kindness, 
has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my 
country and for the welfare and progress of 
mankind. If the Union is dissolved, and the 
government disrupted," he concludes, ^'I shall 
return to my native State and share the miseries 
of my people, and, save in defense, will draw my 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 55 

sword on none." Elsewhere he patriotically 
declared, that ' ^ if he owned all the negroes in the 
South he would gladly yield them up for the pres- 
ervation of the Union." These are brave and in- 
spiring words to come from one who was soon now 
to be termed by the North '^ rebel "and chief 
among rebels ; but whose whole past testified to 
the fidelity of a loyal and true gentleman, alike to 
the Union and to the Constitution, as they were 
founded and established by the Fathers. 

Meanwhile matters political were fast ap- 
proaching a crisis in the country, for the John 
Brown raid upon Harper's Ferry had taken place, 
and a wild scheme was formed by this hero-fana- 
tic and his nineteen followers to free the slaves 
of the South, though it bore on its face the de- 
sign, if not the intent, of inciting a servile war. 
When it occurred and the U. S. arsenal had been 
seized by Brown and his meager band, Lee was 
on furlough at Arlington to settle his deceased 
father-in-law's affairs. Being on the spot, the 
Secretary of War summoned him to proceed to 
Harper's Ferry with some marines and four com- 
panies of soldiers from Fort Monroe to quell 
the trouble ; which Lee promptly did. Brown 
and a portion of his fanatical following being 
captured in a hiding-place in which they had 



56 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. ^ 

sought refuge and were turned over to the civil 
authorities. John Brown, as all know, was sub- 
sequently tried on a charge of treason and con- 
spiracy, found guilty, sentenced, and executed ; 
while Colonel Lee returned to Washington, and 
from Arlington he once more proceeded to his 
command in Texas. Here, in garrison at San 
Antonio, Lee spent his last year of service under 
the United States flag, for on February 13, 1861, 
when Texas had withdrawn from the Union, 
he delivered over his authority at Fort Mason 
and repaired to the national capital, at the sum- 
mons of the Secretary of War. 

On his return to Washington, Lee was con- 
fronted with an embarrassing and painful situ- 
ation. Not only had seven of the States of the 
South passed ordinances of secession and seized 
United States forts within their State juris- 
dictions, but his own loved commonwealth of 
Virginia was on the brink of withdrawing from 
the Union. This action was followed ere long 
by other States, while the Southern Confederacy 
was formally inaugurated — if we may not saj^ 
legalized — by the installation of Jefferson Davis 
as its president. As president of the Union 
Government, Abraham Lincoln was installed in 
office, and presently made his call for Y5,000 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 57 

troops to suppress insurrectionary violence and 
oppose the secession of the slave-holding States. 
The period was obviously one of intense excite- 
ment, for coercion on the part of the United 
States government over the disaffected States 
that had arrayed themselves against Federal 
authority and taken themselves out of the Union, 
was an unusual, as it was an extreme, course, 
and naturally affected the attitude of most of 
the Southern officers who were then serving in 
the Union army. To Colonel Lee, the struggle 
between his sense of duty and attachment to his 
native State, in conflict with loyalty in his own 
breast to the country he had so long and faith- 
fully served, was a distressing and painful one. 
Especially was it this when he realized what co- 
ercion meant, and that coercion would be the 
penalty to be paid by his own State of Virginia 
when, as presently happened, she joined the 
sisterhood of States embraced in the Southern 
Confederacy. Against his own State he could 
not, of course, draw his sword, still less could he 
stand idly by when she was menaced and at- 
tacked by the Federal power as a commonwealth 
in revolt from Union authority. In his mind 
there was nothing of sectional enmity or hatred, 
only love for his native State, and sorrow over 



58 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the dire conditions that had arisen to compel her 
to withdraw from the North and join her forces 
with those of the Confederacy. 

Into the vortex of war the two sections of the 
RepubHc soon now drifted, and with Lincoln's 
call for troops and the War Department's prep- 
arations to invade the South, Colonel Lee's men- 
tal struggle as to what he should do came to an 
end. His devotion to the Union had hitherto 
delayed his action and made infirm his will ; 
while it brought him overtures from the authori- 
ties to take command of the proposed army of 
invasion, which, of course, was repugnant to him, 
and, in declining, he at the same time handed in 
his resignation as an officer of the United States 
army. His period of sore trial was, happily, now 
soon over, though it cost him much to quit the 
service with which he had been so long and hon- 
orably connected and separate himself from his 
old comrades in the Union army and his friends 
and associates in the North. To General Win- 
field Scott, who loved him as a son and pleaded 
with him against resigning, he wrote a kindly 
letter of regret at parting with him, while ac- 
knowledging his appreciation of a long and cor- 
dial friendship. His resignation was accepted 
April 20th (1861), and three days later the Legis- 



BEFORE THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 59 

lature of Virginia authorized the Governor of the 
State to offer Lee command of the military forces 
of the State, with the rank of Major-General. 
This changed the course of his career, and for 
the future identified himself with the cause of 
the South, in which he played so conspicuous and 
strenuous a part, shedding glory upon its arms, 
despite the final issue of the long and bloody 
conflict. Taking leave once more of Arlington 
and its loved inmates, Lee repaired to Richmond, 
Va., and to his new duties as commander-in-chief 
of the army of Virginia. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE OPPOSING FORCES PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 

The two sections of the riven Union, when 
Major-General Lee betook himself to Eichmond, 
were speedily now to come together in the clash 
of arms. Already, the weakly-garrisoned and 
badly-provisioned Federal Fort Sumter, in Charles- 
ton harbor, had been the object of Southern attack 
and occupation by a Confederate force under Gen- 
eral Beauregard. Major Anderson and his slender 
Northern command evacuated the Fort on April 
14:th (1861) with the honors of war, the Confed- 
erates permitting its temporary defenders to board 
the Federal Steamship Baltic, lying on the 
bar, and convey them to New York. Contem- 
porary with the fall of Fort Sumter, sympathy 
with Secession showed itself in rioting in Balti- 
more, a street mob there, being exasperated over 
the passing through the city of a body of Massa- 
chusetts and Pennsylvania troops bound for 
Washington, assailed them with stones and other 
missiles. The troops, resenting the insult paid 

60 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 01 

them, fired upon the mob, and several deaths and 
many serious casualties occurred on both sides. 
When Federal authority was re-established in Bal- 
timore, the Secession fever subsided, and the city 
and the State of Maryland were preserved to the 
Union ; though both became for a time the seats 
of disaffection and the hiding-place of not a little 
covert treason. Nor, at the outset of the war, 
was the seriousness of the situation less grave to 
the North when the South made haste to possess 
itself, garrison, and occupy Federal forts, arsenals, 
and even navy -yards, at outlying points of the 
coast, or within reach of the seceded States. 
Among these posts early pounced upon by the 
Confederate forces were Harper's Ferry, with its 
arsenal, and the Gosport Navy Yard, adjoining 
Norfolk, which, though set on fire and abandoned 
by its Northern garrison, was seized by the 
Virginians, its flames subdued, and many of its 
valuable military stores, with several pieces of 
serviceable artillery, were recovered for use by 
the South. Alike grave was the aspect of things 
revealed in the unpreparedness of the North to 
meet the emergency of the time, and its inability 
for some months to confront the enemy in the field 
with any force more adequate than raw, untrained 
militia. This accounts for the successive defeats 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

to the North early in the war, such as those at 
Big Bethel, near Yorktown, and at Eich Moun- 
tain and Laurel Eidge, in the valley of Virginia, 
followed by the more important victory for the 
South at Bull Eun, with its humiliating and 
disastrous rout of the Northern troops backward 
upon Washington. 

Still darker for the North was the prospect when, 
besides the secession of the seven Southern States, 
came the breaking away from the Union of 
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ar- 
kansas, together with the subsequent recognition 
by Great Britain and France of the Confederate 
Government and their according it belligerent 
rights, following upon the Northern proclamation 
of a blockade of the Southern ports. In these 
fateful times, the North, though slow to reahze 
the rift within the Union lute, and hardly dreaming 
that the Southerners were serious in their estrange- 
ment from their Northern brethren, was mean- 
while full of unrequisitioned resource, alike in men 
and in money ; while her people, when they awoke 
from their lethargy, were ardently bent on, as well 
as patriotically zealous for, the prosecution of the 
war. The firing upon and capture of Fort Sumter, 
however incredibly the report of its occurring was 
at first received, aroused and made indignant the 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 63 

North ; while it brought her people to face the 
reality and braced them to the point of armed 
coercion. Here and there, dissent from the latter 
was heard, and doubt cast upon the prospect of an 
^'irrepressible conflict.'' In these quarters, hope 
of reconciliation was still clung to, and much was 
made of the sentimentally viewed spectacle of 
'^ brother shedding brother's blood." The day of 
peace, however, had gone by, and hope of arresting 
civil war before it had passed the appeals of argu- 
ment and the bounds of reason was now seen to 
be futile. In the South, on the other hand, there 
was more inflexibility as well as unity ; while, 
at first, its government was better prepared for a 
conflict, and it knew, moreover, that the North 
was not. Subjugation by the North was, as yet, 
hardly dreamed of ; while Southern invasion of 
the North and the capture of Washington were 
widely entertained ideas as well as hopefully 
deemed projects. Had Maryland, Kentucky, and 
Missouri joined the Confederacy, as at one time 
seemed probable, the scenes of the coming conflict 
would more likely have been the North rather 
than the South, and possibly with another than 
the after historical result. Aside from this, and 
from the constitutional argument involved in the 
question of the right of Secession, the North had 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the advantage of possessing a moral motive, with 
the prestige it naturally gave it, in the conflict ; 
while the South fatally handicapped itself by 
fighting, in the main, for the preservation of 
its favored institution. The doctrine of human 
chattelhood, to an enlightened and religious 
world, was the South's moral condemnation, and 
as fanatical was its adherence to and preaching 
of this as were fanatical the extreme views and 
the hysterical incitement to aggression on the 
part of Northern abolitionists. The better minds 
of the South obviously saw and admitted this, 
though they could ill brook the sectional intoler- 
ance of the North, and so took the stand they did, 
further influenced by the local claims of the region 
and the ties of family connection and tradition 
in the South. With them, Disunion was not so 
much their motive — indeed, by many it was dis- 
tinctly disavowed — as the believed right they had 
of separation, coupled, as in the case of Major- 
General Lee, with an ardent affection for their 
native State, loyalty to its interests, and the claim 
each section had to its sons' allegiance and succor 
when in jeopardy, or when it had become the 
object of menace and aggression by the govern- 
ment of what was deemed 
minority President." 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 65 

To the North, it was unfortunate that the crisis 
that had come upon the country had found it un- 
prepared for the pending conflict, and that, when 
it was launched, it was at once paralyzed as well 
as dismayed at the immediate result. The effect 
of this on the South was naturally encouraging, 
while the Confederates were more united and in 
greater earnest, and possessed, moreover, the 
abler army leaders, in such experienced generals 
and clever tacticians as Lee, Johnston, Long- 
street, and Stonewall Jackson. It was, on the 
other hand, at a disadvantage in having little 
of a navy, and was consequently unable to cope 
with the sea-power resources of the North in 
blockading and investing Southern ports, with 
the fine fighting qualities and admirable sea- 
manship manifested by men like Farragut, Foote, 
and Porter. In command of the sinews of war, 
the South was also at a disadvantage compared 
with the North, though the drain even upon the 
latter became, as we know, unprecedentedly great 
and most embarrassing to its financial backers 
at home and abroad, as well as to the distracted 
Administration at Washington. This was espe- 
cially the case in the later stages in the war, when 
the national currency had greatly depreciated, 
and when the North was staggering under its 



^^ LIFE OF GENEITAL LEE. 

burdensome load of taxation, with a national debt 
which had risen from about $80,000,000 in 1860 
to over $2,800,000,000 in the autumn of 1865. In 
this respect, the South had its own perplexities 
and troubles, in spite of heavy levies in the way 
of taxation, its risky, surreptitious sales of cotton 
and the greatly-needed provisions it obtained for 
this, when it succeeded in passing the vigilant 
blockade and paying loot to the army of private 
speculators. With ail in its favor, or could pro- 
cure by hook or by crook, the Southern army 
was often in sore straits for daily rations, having 
often to rel}^ almost solely on corn meal ; while it 
was usually sadly deficient in tents for shelter, as 
well as in shoes, clothing, and blankets. The 
facilities for caring for the sick and wounded were 
also often lamentably indifferent ; while the pri- 
vations endured by even the strong and the well 
on the march, or when being transported in close 
box-cars from place to place, were at times too 
harrowing for words. 

The curtain of war was now, however, rung up, 
and from the general aspects of the struggle as it 
affected both combatants we pass to describe, in 
some reasonable detail, the chief incidents in the 
eventful drama. The Federal Administration we 
have seen^ had received Lincoln as its presiding 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 67 

head, and he was judicious in the selection of a Cab- 
inet, which was composed, as a whole, of experi- 
enced as well as able Northern statesmen. The 
Vice-President was Hannibal Hamlin, who, in 1864, 
when Lincoln was elected for another term of 
office, was replaced by Andrew Johnson in the 
subordinate post, and who became his successor. 
The more prominent of Mr. Lincoln's advisers 
were Seward, Chase, and Cameron, all of whom 
had been influential in the political circles of the 
capital. To these were entrusted the secretary- 
ships, respectively, of the State Department, 
the Treasury, and the War Office. Secretary 
Seward remained during the war at the head of 
the State Department, though Chase, in 1864, 
when he was created chief- justice of the Supreme 
Court, gave place at the head of the Treasury to 
Fessenden, and later on to MacCulloch ; while 
Cameron, in 1862, gave way to E. M. Stanton in 
the control of the War Department. To Gideon 
Wells fell the post of Secretary of the Navy ; 
Montgomery Blair became Postmaster-General ; 
Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior ; and 
Edward Bates was appointed Attorney-General. 

The representative department heads of the 
Southern cause, who had been officially installed 
at Montgomery, Ala., under Jefferson Davis (of 



68 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Miss.) as President of the Confederate Govern- 
ment, with A. H. Stephens (of Ga.) as Vice- 
President, were : Kobert Toombs (of Ga.), Secre- 
tary of State ; C. G. Memminger (of S. C), 
Secretary of the Treasury ; and L. P. Walker 
(of Ala.), Secretary of War. To these were later 
appointed S. K. Mallory (of Fla.), Secretary of 
the Navy ; and J. H. Keagan (of Texas), Post- 
master-General. The chief change in the above 
posts was that which gave to Judah Philip Ben- 
jamin, in 1861, the Secretaryship of War, and from 
February 1862, to the collapse of the Confeder- 
acy, the Secretaryship of State. Later on, the 
headquarters of the Confederate Government was 
transferred from Montgomery, Ala., to Eich- 
mond, Va., and thither, after his withdrawal 
from the military service of the Union, did Major- 
General Lee, as we have related, proceed. Here 
the distinguished son of Virginia met with a 
hearty, vociferous welcome, and that alike from 
the Eichmond populace and from the Virginia 
convention, then in session, and before which, on 
his coming to the capital, he had been invited to 
appear. Governor Letcher had already nomin- 
ated him to the chief command of the military 
forces of the State, with the rank of major-gen- 
eral, and as such the convention, together with 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 69 

a large and interested audience, warmly greeted 
him. To the assembled body, Lee was formally 
presented in an elaborate and eulogistic address, 
the major-general being introduced as the State's 
trusted commander-in-chief. To the address and 
greeting, the recipient of the honor made the 
following brief, but characteristically modest, 
reply : ''Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Con- 
vention : — Profoundly impressed with the solem- 
nity of the occasion, for which I must say I was 
not prepared, I accept the position assigned me by 
your partiality. I would have much preferred 
had your choice fallen upon an abler man. 
Trusting in Almighty God, an approving con- 
science, and the aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote 
myself to the service of my native State, in whose 
behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword." 
The demonstration, and the honor paid the 
general in the high appointment which had been 
given him, was not only well deserved, but was 
sure to be rewarded by able and gallant, as well 
as by most efficient, service. He had sacrificed not 
a little in resigning his cavalry command under 
the Union flag ; but this, as we have seen, was 
due to his preferred allegiance to his native State, 
no less than to his refusal to fight against her 
when it had withdrawn from the North and 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

joined her fortunes with those of the Confed- 
eracy. For this act of loyalty to the Common- 
wealth of Virginia, he had to abandon his loved 
Arlington, while he, with his dear wife and at- 
tached family, had become homeless, save for 
the temporary domicile in the White House, at 
Pamunkey, in which his wife aad children had 
meanwhile found safety and shelter. But with 
all the patriotic sacrifice he had been called upon 
to make, Lee was not one to repine over duty 
conscientiously performed. His attitude amid 
the distractions and perils of the time is well 
shown at this juncture in a letter to his wife 
from Eichmond (under date May 8, 1861). He 
there says : '' I grieve at the anxiety that drives 
you from your home. I can appreciate your 
feelings on the occasion, and pray that you may 
receive comfort and strength in the difficulties 
that surround you. When I reflect upon the 
calamity pending over the country," he bravely 
and resignedly adds, '^my own sorrows sink into 
insignificance." Very touching at this time is the 
spirit shown by Lee's noble wife, in a letter she 
addressed to her husband's admiring friend, the 
aged General Scott, giving him an account of her 
worthy husband's welcome by the Virginia Con- 
vention. Writing from Arlington (May 5, 1861) 



PREPARING FOR CONFLICT. 71 

before quitting her ancestral home, she thus 
addresses the veteran soldier : ^^ My dear Gen- 
eral: — Hearing that you desire to see the account 
of my husband's reception in Eichmond, I have 
sent it to you. No honors can reconcile us to 
this fratricidal war which we would have laid 
down our lives to avert. Whatever may happen, 
I feel that I may expect from your kindness all 
the protection you can in honor afford. Nothing 
can ever make me forget your kind appreciation 
of Mr. Lee. If you knew all you would not think 
so hardly of me. Were it not that I would not 
add one feather to his load of care, nothing would 
induce me to abandon my home. Oh, that you 
could command peace to oui? distracted countr}^ ! 
Yours in sadness and sorrow, M. C. Lee." Less 
than three weeks from the date of this epistle, 
the paternal home of the Lee family had to be 
abandoned, on the approach of an outpost of the 
Federal army, which made Arlington its head- 
quarters, while taking possession of the heights 
of Washington and the region of the Potomac's 
banks as far as Alexandria. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE DRAMA OPENS. 

When the Civil War was launched, the South, 
though confident and bold even to audacity, was 
in numbers weak, as compared with the North 
and the North- Western region, that threw in its 
lot with the Union. Of the thirty-one millions 
representing the population of the United States 
according to the Census of 1860, only some twelve 
millions dwelt in the Slave States, and but nine 
millions could be counted among the States of 
the South that actually seceded, since the Slave 
States of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, 
Kentucky, and Missouri, did not unite with the 
Confederacy. Of these nine millions, it has to be 
remember, moreover, that about three and a half 
millions were slaves ; so that the entire strength 
of the Confederate States, in freemen, that broke 
away from and defied the Union, was only some 
five and a half millions, of which, in round 
numbers, two and a half millions were women, 

72 



THE DRAMA OPENS. Y3 

leaving but three millions of a possible fighting 
strength to be opposed, roughly speaking, to three 
times the number in the North. The disparity in 
wealth and resources was also great, the prepon- 
derance being vastly on the side of the Union. On 
the other hand, the South was at the outset better 
prepared for conflict, and had proportionately a 
larger number of expert soldiers, used to arms, 
among them being many able officers who had 
seen considerable service in the Union army, and 
had a practical as well as a theoretical knowledge 
of and genius for war. The South, moreover, 
was from the first in deadly earnest, and fought, 
in the main, on the defensive and on its own soil, 
and that not only for what it conceived to be its 
rights in the institution of slavery, but for the 
inherent right of Secession, especially when its 
interests and free, independent action were in 
peril from Northern coercion and the clamor of 
what was deemed incendiary abolition dictation 
and fanaticism. In the view it took with regard 
to these rights and sectional claims, it looked at 
the outset for a division of sentiment in its favor 
in the North and West, as well as for recognition 
by, if not practical aid from, the European 
nations whose industry and commerce were depen- 
dent upon '^King Cotton." In the indulging of 



74 LIFE OF GENER'AL LEE. 

these hopes it was largely disappointed, for the 
West remained loyal to the Union ; while the 
effectiveness of the Northern blockade of the 
Southern ports, and the absence of a Confederate 
navy, proved futile to Southern expectation of 
European interference and aid. Nor was it finan- 
cially in a position to enter upon a prolonged 
struggle, as was ere long seen in the collapse of 
the Confederate Government's credit, depending, 
in the main, as it did upon issues of paper money 
which so depreciated in value that towards the 
close of the struggle it took $500 of Confederate 
money to buy a pair of trooper's boots. 

Another matter that favored the South through- 
out the course of the struggle, was the unity of its 
army organization, in the main, under a single 
directing mind, one who knew his men well, and 
that not only in units but in masses, and whom 
his men knew and trusted in a remarkable degree. 
In General Lee, moreover, the Southern cause 
had a commander capable of fighting a battle on 
a large scale, and who, as an engineer officer of 
great experience and astuteness, possessed a 
trained eye for adequate preliminary reconnais- 
sance, and for every coign of vantage in the field ; 
and at the same time had phenomenal personal 
qualities that gave him pre-eminence among the 



THE DRAMA OPENS. Y5 

leaders of the South, while they removed him far 
above self-seeking, petty jealousy, and fretfulness 
as to his rank-status or right to be where he was 
and remained throughout the war. In contrast 
with these things, the North, especially at the out- 
set of the war, had no such single commander to 
lead with confidence and unerring judgment and 
purpose its arms, or who could bring on the field 
masses of trained men, enured to fighting, rather 
than fresh, hastily mobilized units, without stay- 
ing power in a hot encounter, and who had all the 
inefficiency and timorousness of raw recruits. The 
North, we know, did better later on in the strug- 
gle, after it had got over its early chastening time 
of defeat and bafiiement, and had fully roused 
itself to bring its greater strength of men and 
resources to bear upon the '' rebels " and prosecute 
the war with effect and vigor to its final and 
successful issue. It did better, moreover, when 
such leaders of its armies as Grant, Sherman, 
Sheridan, Eosecrans, Pope, and Thomas came 
to the front and replaced or overshadowed men 
of the lesser stamp like McClellan, Hancock, 
McDowell, Buell, Burnside, and Meade ; though, 
at the best, if we except Grant, whose bull-dog 
tenacity and sledge-hammer though sanguinary 
work told in the issues of the conflict, with the 



^Q LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

brilliant achievements of Sheridan and Sherman, 
the North had no such array of fighting generals, 
skilful tacticians, and strong, sagacious leaders 
as the South had in Lee, J. E. and A. S. Johnston, 
*^ Stonewall " Jackson, Beauregard, Bragg, Hood, 
and Early, who proved themselves foes it was folly 
to underrate. Besides this disadvantage, the North 
at the outset, moreover, made the palpable mistake 
of belittling its Union adversaries, and was even 
sceptical as to the imminence of war ; though the 
firing on Fort Sumter, the affair at Big Bethel, 
and discomfiture at Bull Eun, with the fiight of 
Union forces back upon the capital, speedily unde- 
ceived her ; and yet not to a greater or more 
adequate extent than led President Lincoln, some 
months before, to summon to the Nation's aid a 
defensive and aggressive force no heavier than 
that of 75,000 men, to serve for a period of only 
three months ! 

Meanwhile, as we know, the South was strain- 
ing every nerve not only to strengthen the assail- 
able sections of her frontier and vast coast line, 
put Kichmond, now the Confederate capital, in an 
adequate state of defense, and watch the ap- 
proaches to Virginia's borders, but even meditated 
a menacing raid upon Washington, to assail the 
North in its then ill-defended capital. Already 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 77 

Lee, who by his own Virginian Commonwealth, 
had been given command of her mihtary forces and 
was at work erecting fortifications and batteries 
round the State's sea-front and river mouths, 
was by this time called to the councils of the 
Confederacy at Eichmond, under Jefferson 
Davis, its President and nominal commanding- 
general, thence was despatched to the mountains 
of Western Virginia in command of a body of 
troops to make reconnaissances and maintain an 
oversight of the situation. All here he succeeded, 
meantime, in doing, was to watch and, as far as 
possible, nullify the operations, on land and sea, of 
invading Northern forces in the region, until the 
early spring of 1862, when he was recalled to 
Eichmond and there given command of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, with the special object of 
concentrating forces for the protection of the 
Confederate capital, then threatened by a North- 
ern arm}^ under McClellan. Entrusted with 
this important and responsible task. General Lee 
entered with his wonted vigor upon his new 
duties. The cry in the North just then was, 
*'0n to Eichmond!" for since McClellan had 
been given the chief command of the Northern 
forces he had as yet done nothing actively in the 
field, his extreme caution holding his hand ; while 



78 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

his attention to the details of organization 
occupied him fully, in spite of Northern impatience 
with his tardiness. At length, however, he pro- 
posed to put his command in motion, with the view 
of meeting the Union clamor for the capture of 
Eichmond, though the Washington Administra- 
tion insisted that in the move against the Con- 
federate capital the safety of the Union capital 
should be amply provided for and secured. Mc- 
Clellan's project in advancing upon Eichmond 
was not to move in force upon the Confederate 
entrenchments at Manassas and try the hazard of 
battle there with General J. E. Johnston, but to 
transport his army by water to the lower Chesa- 
peake — to the Peninsula formed by the James and 
York rivers — and, with his base resting upon 
Fortress Monroe, advance upon Eichmond from 
that quarter. 

Before the Peninsular campaign was entered 
upon, in April, 1862, it had been going ill with 
the fortunes of the South in the West. There, 
thanks to the aid afforded by the Northern fleet, 
under Commodore Foote, Ulysses Grant, earlier in 
the year, had made his way up the Tennessee 
Eiver and captured Fort Henry, following that 
by an attack upon Fort Donelson, on the Cumber- 
land Eiver, which, after two days' severe fighting 



THE DRAMA OPENS. T9 

surrendered to him, with a loss of nearly 15,000 
men. A little later than these Southern defeats, 
came other Northern successes, in the capture of 
Island Number Ten, on the Mississippi, and the 
fall of New Orleans to Admirals Farragut and 
Porter ; while the fiercely-contested battle of 
Shiloh, between A. S. Johnston and Buell and 
Grant, had been fought, the losses on both sides 
amounting to over 20,000 men, besides the killing 
of the Confederate commander (Johnston), whose 
command was taken over by Beauregard. These 
losses, together with the earlier Northern vic- 
tories under Thomas at Mill Spring, and under 
Curtis at Pea Kidge, with the later surrender of 
Memphis to Commodore Davis, were irretrievable 
disasters to the South, not to speak of its having 
to abandon the control of the Mississippi. For 
the time, the Southern heart, on the other 
hand, was cheered by the doings of the armor-clad 
Merrimac, in Hampton Koads, where the trans- 
mogrified craft rammed and sank the Northern 
frigate Cumberland, burned the Congress and 
forced the Minnesota to seek safety in shoal water. 
After this, came the encounter with an equally 
formidable adversary, the Ericsson revolving tur- 
ret ship Monitor (March, 1862), and the with- 
drawal of both Monitor and Merrimac after a 



80 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

lavish waste of shot on both sides ; though the pres- 
ence of and reputation gained by the Monitor re- 
lieved the Northern mind from dread of Southern 
attack on Eastern harbors by the Confederate ram. 
Nor were the complications of the era between the 
United States Government and Great Britain, in 
the Trent affair, without a ray of hope to the 
South, as being likely to lead to trouble between 
the two nations, and so be advantageous to the 
Confederate cause. The threatening aspect of 
affairs, as we know, however, speedily blew over, 
the Washington authorities having the good sense 
to recognize that Captain Wilkes' seizure of 
Messrs. Slidell and Mason on board the Trent 
was not only a violation of neutrality, but con- 
trary to American contention and tradition. 

While these events were happening. General 
McClellan, tardily meeting the Northern clamor 
for an advance upon Richmond, pursued his object 
of proceeding with his Army of the Potomac to 
Fortress Monroe, there to initiate his movement 
against the Confederate capital. Before setting 
out with his Peninsular army of invasion, the 
North had at Washington a fighting force of about 
170,000 men ; yet, with this large body of troops 
at his command, McClellan was, as we have 
seen, timidly afraid of marching upon Richmond 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 81 

through Johnston's defensive lines at Manassas. 
He preferred, as we have related, to operate from 
the lower Chesapeake, where he hoped to have had 
the aid of the Northern gunboats to protect the 
flanks of his army. In this he was, however, 
disappointed, since the Union gunboats were at 
the time fully occupied in keeping watch over the 
terrible ironclad, the Merrimac. He was further 
disappointed in having to leave behind him, for 
the defense of Washington, about 40,000, instead 
of 20,000 men, the Lincoln Administration insist- 
ing that McDowell's army corps should be retained, 
in addition to the 20,000 troops, which were all 
McClellan had designed to leave at the capital. 
As it was, he had with him a force well nigh 
130,000 strong, to pit against the Southern armies, 
all told, of less than half that number in Virginia, 
to protect Richmond, and guard the coast line and 
other approaches to the Southern capital. Of the 
latter force, the Southern general, Magruder, had 
under him, to confront McClellan when he reached 
the Peninsula, a body of but 11,000 troops, which 
were extended behind defensive lines, some twelve 
miles in length, from Yorktown, where his left 
rested, along the Warwick River to Mulberry 
Island, to his right flank on the James. On Mc- 
Clellan's failure to meet Johnston at Manassas 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

and proceeding to the Chesapeake, the latter met 
the movement by withdrawing from the region of 
Bull Eun, and took up a new position on the 
Eappahannock, where he could better oppose 
McClellan. Meanwhile, Magruder's front was 
reinforced by the divisions of Jubal Early, D. R. 
Jones, and D. H. Hill, increasing the Southern 
defensive array to oppose the Federal advance to 
53,000 men, the chief command of all being now 
assumed (April 17, 1862) by General J. E. John- 
ston, who had also the general charge of the De- 
partment of Norfolk. 

It took the remainder of the month of April 
for McClellan to make his reconnaissances in the 
region and ascertain the strength of the forces 
opposed to him ; and when this was done he pro- 
ceeded to erect batteries commanding Yorktown 
and to prepare for a general assault. While 
thus engaged, a council of war had been held at 
Eichmond, in which General Lee took a leading 
directing part, and which favored the withdrawal 
of the Southern defensive line and concentrate it 
nearer to the Confederate capital. This decision 
having been come to, Yorktown was abandoned, 
the retreat upon Williamsburg being for a time 
adroitly concealed by a furious cannonade from 
the batteries of the place. The movement was 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 83 

one of chagrin to McClellan, for he had hoped 
to take York town by siege and assault, having 
expended weeks in preparing for it, and was, 
moreover, confident of success. All he had for 
his pains was the occupying of the evacuated 
Confederate works, and the pursuit of the retreat- 
ing Southern defenders of the post. In the retreat 
towards Kichmond, an effective stand was made 
at Williamsburg by the troops under Longstreet 
and D. H. Hill, who fought the pursuing Northern 
force under Hooker and Hancock, General Sumner 
being in chief command ; while a division under 
Kearny later came on the field. Battle had been 
given at Williamsburg, so as to check Federal 
pursuit and allow time for Johnston to get the 
mass of his army and its equipment well on the 
road to Eichmond. As it v/as, the Northerners, 
were hotly repulsed, suffering a heavy loss of over 
2,000 men in killed and wounded, in addition to 
some pieces of artillery captured by '' the rebels." 
The battle lasted throughout the day of May 5th, 
when the Confederates fell back towards the 
Chickahominy, at the same time withdrawing the 
garrison under Huger, from Norfolk, Ya. In 
spite of defeat McClellan continued the advance 
upon Richmond, having for his new base the 
White House, on the Pamunkey. By this time 



84 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

he had been relieved of the chief command of the 
Northern forces by General Halleck at Washing- 
ton, and was now solely responsible for the Fed- 
eral operations in the Peninsula, though in 
conducting these he looked for support from 
McDowell's division, which was now advanced 
from the neighborhood of Manassas to Fredericks- 
burg. Here it was, however, detained by instruc- 
tions from Washington, much to McClellan's 
annoyance, owing to continued fear of a Southern 
advance upon the Union capital by Jackson's 
alertly-moving command, which was operating 
menacingly in the Valley of Virginia. It was to 
Jackson, at this juncture, that Eichmond, now in 
real dread of McClellan, was saved from assault 
and possible occupation by the Army of the 
Potomac. To his active, adroit, and tactical 
movements in the Valley, which alarmed Wash- 
ington, and kept McDowell from joining McClel- 
lan, the South owed the deliverance of its capital 
seat ; while it gave Johnston the opportunity to 
give his attention to the Federal forces now 
massing on the Chickahominy. 

McClellan's advance upon Eichmond was for a 
time balked by difficulties in getting across the 
latter stream (the Chickahominy), the retreating 
Confederates having destroyed its bridges in fall- 



THE DRAMA OPENS. S5 

ing back upon the capital ; while the wet season 
had swollen the river greatly and rendered very- 
swampy its banks. One of the Northern army 
wings was, however, got across the stream, by 
means of pontoons, in the neighborhood of Bot- 
tom Bridge, and the corps composing it — those 
of Keyes, Franklin, and Heintzelman — Johnston 
now proceeded to attack. The engagement that 
ensued — that at Seven Pines or Fair Oaks — took 
place on the last day of May and the first of June 
(1862), and was stubbornly fought by J. E. John- 
ston and his next ranking officer, G. W. Smith. 
In the battle, the Federals met with a severe re- 
buff, and were repeatedly driven back on the 
Chickahominy, the timely arrival of Sumner's 
corps only saving them from annihilation or utter 
rout. At the close of the first day's fighting. 
General Johnston was unfortunate enough to be 
severely wounded, and this disabled him from 
taking part in, or even directing, the morrow's 
operations. The incidents of the second day's 
battle were unimportant in results on either §ide, 
both armies remaining on the ground at the close 
of the fighting- and protecting themselves by 
entrenchments. Johnston's disablement for the 
time from active service brought General Lee 
upon the scene, however. President Davis per- 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

mitting him at length to take the field, while he 
appointed him Commander-in-chief. 

"With Lee's return to active duty in the field, 
McClellan's designs upon the Confederate capital 
were signally balked ; while the presence and 
superb leadership of the great Southern soldier 
were great gains to the South in the crisis of 
invasion. This was presently seen by the vig- 
orous campaign he now entered upon at the head 
of the Northern Army of Virginia, and by its 
operations during the critical era of the Seven 
Days' Battles in front of Richmond. The troops 
under him, or within call from Eichmond, did 
not, all told, exceed 60,000 men ; against which 
McClellan, at this time, had an army double in 
number, without reckoning the corps under 
McDowell, Fremont, and Banks, which were 
nigh at hand. At this period, Jackson, once 
more, was of great service to Lee and the 
Southern cause in continuing his daring oper- 
ations in the Virginia Valley, where he was now 
joined by Ewell's division, and with whose co- 
operation he fell first upon Fremont, whom he 
drove back upon Western Virginia, and then 
attacked and routed Banks, who fled across the 
Potomac. These Northern repulses foiled any 
hope of McDowell's joining McClellan, and com- 



THE DRA.MA OPENS. 87 

pelled the latter to rely upon his own already 
large resources. The situation of the South at 
this time was, moreover, brightened ; while Lee 
and his army, still holding McClellan in check 
on the Chickahominy, was encouraged, by the 
brilliant reconnaissance ride of General Stuart 
and his Southern cavalry command round the 
whole of the widely-extended lines of the Federal 
position, during which Stuart and his men did 
much serviceable work in learning of the strength 
and weakness of McClellan's lines, as well as in 
harassing the outposts of the enemy. 

At this juncture in the South's affairs. General 
Lee had a heavy and responsible duty to face, 
having in front of him, within only five or six 
miles of Eichmond, a Northern army, eleven 
divisions strong, with but five divisions, at most, 
under him, to pit against this unequal force. 
Disposing his command — which consisted of the 
divisions under Huger, Longstreet, Magruder, 
A. P. Hill, and D. H. Hill— to the best advan- 
tage, Lee saw that his best tactics lay in attack- 
ing one or other of the enemy's flanks. The right 
flank was the one he chose to operate against, 
the topographical features of the country on 
McClellan's right and rear being favorable to 
assault from that quarter. Moreover, the in- 



88 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

formation which General Stuart had gleaned for 
him, in his daring ride round McClellan's lines, 
confirmed Lee in his decision to attack the enemy 
on the right. In thus deciding, he was also in- 
fluenced by the brilliant movements of " Stone- 
wall " Jackson in the Virginia Valley, and the 
distractions caused McClellan by these exploits, 
which brought '^Stonewall" in rear of the Fed- 
eral right, and in a position to aid Lee in the 
vigorous onslaught he was about to undertake. 
Now was launched the famous Seven Days' con- 
flict (June 26- July 2), which brought conster- 
nation to the Federal commander, and not only 
foiled him in his anticipated capture of the 
'^ rebel " capital, but caused his entire plans to 
miscarry, and actually drove him and his in- 
vading army from the Peninsula. The vigor 
and daring, as well as the brilliance, of Lee's 
operations, which resulted in this signal discom- 
fiture of his boastful Northern adversary, were 
conspicuous throughout the Seven Days' battles ; 
while their success caused renewed despair at 
Washington, and correspondingly elated the 
whole South. They, moreover, infused fresh 
ardor into all ranks of the Confederate armies, 
and increasingly stiffened the back of rebellion. 
Nor was McClellan's failure in the Peninsular 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 89 

campaign simply a defeat, or rather a series of 
defeats ; it came near involving the destruction 
or surrender of the entire army of the Potomac, 
and that in spite of the stubborn fightings which 
marked almost the whole course of the retreat 
from the Chickahominy to the James Eiver, 
and the skill shown by the Federal commander 
in extricating himself and his forces from the 
region, which Nature had further rendered a 
toilsome and difficult one to penetrate. Amply, 
however, was Lee rewarded by the success he 
achieved, splendidly aided as he was by the 
loyal support and active, determined work of his 
ably co-operating generals. 

Of the latter generals, Lee received perhaps the 
greatest assistance from Stonewall Jackson, who, 
as we have seen, was operating in the Virginia 
Valley, and had just defeated Fremont at Cross 
Keys and Shields at Port Eepublic (June 8-9). 
From the Valley Lee had asked Jackson to come 
secretly to his aid, leaving in the region only such 
portions of his command as were necessary to 
keep watch over the Northern corps he had been 
fighting, and concealing from the enemy the 
suggested junction with General Lee. To replace 
Jackson's own personal command, Lee had 
directed Brigadier- Generals Lawton and Whiting, 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

with their respective corps, to join '* Stonewall " 
and aid him in crushing the Northerners in the 
Valley, and then, with his main body, including 
Ewell's division and Lawton and Whiting's con- 
tingents, move rapidly to Ashland, thence sweep 
down between the Chickahominy and the Pamun- 
key, where it was hinted Jackson could cut the 
enemy's communications while Lee was to attack 
McClellan in front. For a time, McClellan was in 
the dark about this understanding between Lee 
and Jackson, which was arranged more in detail 
at a personal conference between the two Confed- 
erate leaders on a flying visit to Eichmond. 
McClellan, moreover, was purposely misled not 
only as to this co-operating movement, but also as 
to the strength of the Southern forces to be brought 
against him, which he seems to have reckoned at 
the preposterously extravagant number of 200,000 
men. The truth is, the Confederate strength 
under Lee at this time was not over 81,000, to pit 
against which the Union had a fighting force of 
106,000 effective men. 

At last McClellan gained a knowledge of the 
movement against his right flank on the north 
bank of the Chickahominy, in which, besides 
Jackson's command, the two Hills, Longstreet, 
and Branch, were to take part ; while Lee left 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 91 

Holmes, Magruder, and Huger, to make a 
counter-demonstration upon the Federal front. 
In beginning to carry out the movement, Jackson 
and Branch, guided by Stuart's cavalry, reached 
Ashland on June 25, after which the combined 
columns pressed on towards Cold Harbor. On the 
following day, D. H. Hill rather unexpectedly 
gave battle to Fitz-John Porter at Mechanicsville, 
and after a stiff fight he pressed the latter's com- 
mand back to Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines' Mill. 
At New Cold Harbor, the fighting became general, 
Lee having ordered a combined assault in force 
against Porter, in which the corps of Jackson, 
Ewell, Longstreet, Whiting, and the two Hills, 
took an active and at times a daring part. For a 
time the rebel attack was met chiefly by Porter's 
artillery ; though, as the assault was pressed, the 
Northern commander continued to fall back, a 
movement which, as a whole, was now decided 
upon by McClellan, who sought to reach the 
James Kiver, about twenty-five miles distant, 
through the intricacies of the White Oak Swamp. 
The federal position was now one of extreme peril, 
and much depended upon Porter's tactics of 
defense, so as to allow time for the withdrawal of 
the mass of McClellan's army and prevent Jack- 
son, at Lee's bidding, from getting in rear of him 



92 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

and cutting off his retreat. As Hill pressed the 
Federals at this juncture, in the face of a furious 
fire, he discovered the strength of Porter's position ; 
but he nevertheless continued gallantly to assail 
them, aided, at Lee's instructions, by Longstreet's 
division, and later by those of Ewell and Whiting. 
Still later. Hill was cheered by the approach of 
the indomitable Jackson's division, when the 
Federals fell back from Beaver Dam Creek in con- 
fusion ; though they saved themselves from fur- 
ther disaster by the coming on of night, as well as 
by the nature of the region, which made it difficult 
for effective pursuit in the darkness. The losses 
on both sides were heavy from the day's opera- 
tions, and nightfall was consequently hailed with 
gladness, especially by the Northerners, who fell 
back on the Powhite Creek. 

Meanwhile, the main Federal army had with- 
drawn from its base at the White House, on the 
Pamunkey, and the line of the York Eiver rail- 
road, taking with it such of its equipment and 
baggage as could be carried off in retreat, and des- 
troying the remainder — a large amount of Federal 
property— besides burning the bridge, on the way 
back to the James. At Savage Station and the 
neighborhood there were several hot brushes with 
the retreating Federals, in which many of the 



THE DRAMA OPENS. 93 

latter were taken prisoners ; while for a time a 
determined stand was made at Frazier's Farm by 
the commands under Sumner and Heintzelman. 
Here, on June 30, the Southern columns were 
held stiffly in check, in spite of the vigorous as- 
saults of the forces under Jackson, Longstreet, 
and A. P. Hill ; while another battle was fought 
at Malvern Bridge, and simultaneous fighting 
went on along all the swampy country over which 
the Federals were retreating, back as far as West- 
over, which McClellan reached on July 4, and 
where he eagerly sought the- safety of the strong 
Federal defensive works there, protected by the 
Northern gunboats in the river. 

With McClellan's retreat, Lee had been able 
not only to bring relief to the Confederate capital, 
but to unite the entire forces of his varied com- 
mand on the south side of the Chickahominy and 
deliver the many offensive attacks which marked 
the period of the Seven Days' battles. From 
these almost continuous assaults McClellan nar- 
rowly escaped destruction or enforced surrender, 
mainly owing to the inferior numbers of the 
Southern fighting armies and to the difficult 
country through which the Federal commander- 
in-chief had cleverly conducted his retreat. Even 
at Westover, where he had strong entrenchments 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

to take shelter in and the Union gunboats in the 
James to protect him, McClellan barely saved 
his force from the strategy of Major-General 
Stuart, who, with great sagacity, seized, and 
against stout Federal opposition pluckily held for 
a time, Evelington Heights, an eminence overlook- 
ing Westover that commanded the entire position 
occupied by the Northern army after its retreat. 
In the Seven Days' fighting the losses on each side 
exceeded fifteen thousand men, the casualties 
naturally falling more heavily on the Southern 
side, as the offensive one throughout the repulse. 
In addition, the Northerners lost many guns, as 
well as captured men and equipment ; while they 
also burned in their retreat very considerable 
military shores, tents, baggage, and other camp- 
appurtenances. To Lee, the successes of the period 
were not all he had hoped for and had brilliantly 
sought to achieve ; but he made few mistakes, 
and had much to felicitate himself upon, with a 
heightened record for coolness, reliance, and sa- 
gacity, and increased reputation for superb skill 
in planning, and great force and effectiveness in 
executing, his operations. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST POPE IN NORTHERN VIR- 
GINIA, AND THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 

The failure of McClellan's operations in the 
Virginia Peninsula was naturally disconcerting to 
the Federal Administration at Washington and 
led to further alarm over the safety of the capital, 
as well as to a call (July 2) for 300,000 volunteers, 
for a term of service of three years. The War 
Department, a week later, moreover, appointed 
Major-General Halleck commander-in-chief, and 
ahout the same time gave the command of the 
Army of Virginia, for the protection of the Fed- 
eral capital, to Major-General John Pope, one of 
Halleck's divisional commanders in the West, who 
had gained some reputation by the capture, in 
February, 1862, of Island No. 8, in the Mississippi. 
These appointments, as it turned out, however, 
were mere makeshifts, resorted to in the dilemma 
the Washington authorities found themselves in, 
with such masterly Southern fighters actively in 

the field as Lee and Stonewall Jackson. They 

95 



90 LIFE OF GENERIl LEE. 

were also made in consequence of the shaking of 
Northern confidence in McClellan, who was now 
ordered by Halleck to withdraw his army from 
the James Eiver and place it under the direction 
of Pope, in front of Washington. This was what 
Lee most desired, as it not only removed the 
menace involved in the presence of 100,000 Fed- 
eral troops within striking distance of Rich- 
mond, but freed the great Southern chieftain and 
his army to test Pope's metal in operations north 
of the Eappahannock. The measure of Pope's 
ability was presently now to be taken and put to 
the test ; already, by his boastful General Order 
on assuming the chief command, he had discred- 
ited his sagacity as a general officer and gained for 
himself the jeers of friend and foe alike. Nor 
did his proclamations in regard to unarmed 
citizens and private property, in the section of 
Northern Virginia where his command was, man- 
ifest either tact or humanity. Otherwise, he 
acted wisely in collecting together under him the 
scattered brigades of McDowell, Fremont, and 
Banks, amounting to close upon 60,000 men, and 
advancing them across the Rappahannock, menac- 
ingly near to both Gordons ville and Charlottes- 
ville, important intersecting points in Northern 
Virginia. 



CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 97 

To oppose this movement of Pope, General 
Lee once more relied upon his sturdy lieutenant 
in arms, General Stonewall Jackson, whom he 
directed to move, with Ewell's command, to 
Gordonsville, where he arrived on July 19. A 
week later, Jackson's army was strengthened by 
the junction with it of A. P. Hill's division— a 
combined force of about 19,000 men, against which 
it had more than double that number so far op- 
posed to it under Pope. On being apprised of Jack- 
son's presence at Gordonsville, the new Federal 
Commander-in-chief directed General Banks to ad- 
vance with his force of 28,000 from Cedar Eun to 
join him. In obeying this command of his 
superior, Banks got as far as Culpeper Court 
House, near which Jackson's advance came across 
him and gave him battle, aided by the brigades 
under Ewell and Early. At a crisis in the con- 
test that ensued, *^ Stonewall" himself was im- 
pelled to take the field, at the head of his own 
brigade, and with the timely help of a portion of 
A. P. Hill's division, that had come up at the junc- 
ture when it was going ill with the Confederate 
forces, the Federal attacks were repulsed, and 
Banks and his army were driven in rout from 
the field, leaving upon it his Northern dead and 
wounded. After the victory — known as the battle 



98 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

of Cedar Eun — Jackson, on the following day 
(Aug. 10), learning that Banks was being heavily 
reinforced, recrossed the Eapidan and returned 
to Gordonsville. His object in this was" to await 
developments in a stronger position, when Pope or 
Banks was ready to resume fighting, and also to 
enable him the better to keep in touch with 
General Lee. 

At length, to General Lee's relief, who feared, 
when McClellan's army joined Pope, that a con- 
centrated movement upon Eichmond directly 
from the North would ensue, McClellan betook 
himself from the James, his army being returned 
to Washington by sea from Harrison's Landing, 
close to Westover, where his camp for some time 
had been. Already Pope had advanced his bat- 
teries to the north bank of the Eapidan ; and 
thither, on the south bank, Lee began to remove 
his army, with the design of proceeding north to 
the Eappahannock to execute a purpose which he 
in concert with Jackson and Longstreet, had con- 
ceived, of getting in rear of Pope's left flank, and 
with another portion of his army to get round the 
Federal right and cut the Northern army's com- 
munications with Washington. From August 
25th to the 27th, saw the initial movements of this 
daring design put in execution, by way of 



*kJ 



CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 99 

Thoroughfare Gap, the narrow pass in Bull Eun 
mountain close to Manassas. To strengthen his 
forces for the accomplishment of this clever 
piece of tactics, Lee had ordered up from Eicli- 
mond the divisions under D. H. Hill, Wilkes, and 
McLaws, which, on their arrival, gave Lee a com- 
bined force of nearly 60,000 men, to pit against 
Pope's total, of close upon 92,000 ; for the latter 
had summoned Burnside's and King's commands 
from Fredericksburg to join him. To add to 
the Federal hosts, McClellan's advance corps, to- 
gether with those of Porter, Sumner, and Heint- 
zelman, were now pouring in from Fredericks- 
burg and Alexandria. In spite of his greater 
strength. Pope was nevertheless in much bewilder- 
ment as to the possible quarters from which the 
Confederate generals would launch their attacks 
upon him ; while, at the same time, he was anx- 
ious to meet successively their commands in ac- 
tion rather than have to fight a united Southern 
army in the field. Especially did he seek to pre- 
vent the junction of Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson, 
or any two of them, until he himself had had some 
measure of success, and had tried his luck with 
one or other of them separately. He was soon 
now to obtain what he desired, and indeed more 
than he cared to grapple with, and with disastrous 

Ldfa 



100 LIFE OF GENEfRAL LEE. 

results to his reputation and tragic consequences 
to his Northern army. While in the midst of 
these anxieties, Jackson's 20,000 men were res- 
olutely pressing forward to Manassas Junction ; 
while Longstreet took up a position at Orleans, 
leaving Lee, meanwhile, to keep watch on the 
river at Waterloo and send a supporting corps to 
Jackson and Longstreet. By August 27th, the 
latter had covered the fifteen miles between 
Orleans and White Plains, thence to his junction 
with ^^ Stonewall " at the eastern end of Thorough- 
fare Gap, seven miles further on. Hither Lee him- 
self came to overlook the ground and confer with 
his veteran generals, some of whose corps were 
now grappling with the enemy and falling on the 
Federal flank. In the region, Jackson, with the 
aid of Stuart's and Trimble's cavalry contingent, 
had come upon the Federal rear with such sur- 
prise that they fell upon Pope's immense army . 
supplies, and had for once a day's high carnival 
on the bounties furnished by the Northern com- 
missariat. To Jackson's indifferently garbed, ill 
foot-shod, and poorly-fed men, operating in a - 
country largely overrun by an enemy, the falling 
upon the Federal army stores was at the period a 
God-send, though little beyond the most pressing 
necessities of the command, with a day's good and 



CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 101 

appetizing rations, could be made use of ; while 
the great bulk of them, as the spoils of war, had 
to be destroyed or given to the flames, it having 
been impossible just then to transport them to 
the ^' rebel" lines. 

By the 28th of August, Jackson and his eager, 
alert command, with shotted guns, reached Grove- 
ton, adjoining Warrenton, close by the old battle- 
ground of Bull Run. Meanwhile, several corps 
of the enemy were converging upon Centreville, 
Pope's headquarters, where some of '^ Stone- 
wall's " brigades engaged a column under King, 
of McDowell's command, and forced it to retreat. 
Next day (the 29th) Jackson (20,000 strong) was 
again in hot conflict with the Federals between 
Groveton and Sudley. Here, on Jackson's left, 
the enemy, about 35,000 in number, under Sigel, 
supported later in the day by Eeno and Heintz- 
elman, were making a tremendous onslaught 
on the '^ rebel" veterans. These Federal onsets 
were repeated half a dozen times during the day, 
the final assault being made about 6 p. m. by 
the divisions of Kearney and Stevens, though 
Jackson's men had hardly ammunition left, after 
the long day's expenditure of it, to repel the last 
attack. All the Federal assaults were success- 
fully beaten off by Stonewall's invincible com- 



102 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

mand. During the day, General Lee, though 
unknown to Pope, was a keen and watchful 
onlooker of the tactful operations of his able and 
resourceful lieutenant, his army being drawn up 
across the Warrenton turnpike, and alongside the 
brigades under Longstreet ; while Pope was 
strengthened by the coming of Porter and Mc- 
Dowell and their commands from Manassas. The 
conflict was renewed on the morrow (Aug. 30th), 
by the advance of Porter's army, flanked by the 
divisions of King and Eeynolds, on Jackson's left 
center. The delivery of these assaults was vig- 
orously met by Jackson's '^Ironsides" under 
Starke and Lawton ; while the Confederate bat- 
teries were unerringly directed under the eye of 
Lee and A. P. Hill. Later in the day, the play 
of these guns, with their enfilading fire, wrought 
dire havoc among the Federal masses, follow- 
ing which came a splendid charge of Longstreet's 
brigade that broke the Federal lines and drove 
the Unionist troops into a confused stampede. 
Nightfall saw fugitive masses rushing across the 
Bull Eun, Pope himself seeking safety in his 
headquarters at Centreville. The following day 
(Sunday, the 31st), the pursuit of the Federals 
was pressed by Lee, when Pope ordered a retreat 
to Fairfax, Jackson's command taking up the 



CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA. 103 

pursuit on Monday in a rainstorm so furious as 
to render firearms useless, save for the bayonet, 
which came effectually and fatally into play. 
Thus was Pope driven in dismay from the Vir- 
ginia borders, and for the time being the weary, 
footsore Southern forces had a brief spell of well- 
earned rest. 



CHAPTEK VIIL 

THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 

The Federal rout at the second battle of Bull 
Eun was reported to President Davis by General 
Lee, in his usual modest and restrained manner, 
from his temporary resting-place at Chantilly, 
on the 3rd of September. The effect upon the 
North of the entire failure of the campaign in 
Virginia was extremely depressing, and roused 
much impatient criticism of the War Department 
and its luckless commanders. A further effect 
of the Federal disasters was to revive national 
fears for the safety of the capital, besides dread 
of invasion by the South of the border States 
which had remained loyal to the Union. Lee in- 
formed President Davis that the two days' con- 
flict at Bull Run cost the enemy a loss of 8,000 
men in killed and wounded, among the former 
being the Union General Kearny, who was left 
dead on the field ; while the Confederates lost 
five colonels killed and six general officers wound- 
ed, among the latter being Generals Ewell and 

104 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 105 

Trimble. He further reported that about T,000 
prisoners had been taken and parolled ; while 
thirty pieces of cannon, many thousand stand 
of small arms, and a large number of wagons, 
ambulances, and other stores, were captured, in 
addition to the large amount of Federal property 
destroyed by the Union forces in retreat. At this 
period, General Lee himself suffered an accidental 
injury to his left hand, which for a short while 
kept him out of the saddle. He was, neverthe- 
less, anxious to press discomfiture further home 
upon the North, by crossing the Potomac and 
invading Maryland, where, doubtless, the South 
had many sympathizers, though they were nat- 
urally under more or less Federal pressure and 
restraint. His army was at this period, however, 
indifferently equipped for invasion, lacking sup- 
plies of all kinds, alike in the commissary's and in 
the quartermaster's departments, and in need of 
rest as well as of refreshment. For some months 
back, it had endured almost continued privation ; 
while the stress of the campaign had been severe 
on its now greatly depleted ranks. In spite of 
all this, and of the lack of adequate ammunition, 
with an inefficient transport service, Lee was 
eager to prosecute the war across the Potomac ; 
and this he set out to do, leading his immediate 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

command in the direction of Frederick, Md. On 
arriving there (Sept. 8), followed by the brigades 
■under Jackson, D. H. Hill, and Longstreet, with 
a scouting force under the vigilant Stuart, Lee 
issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland, 
in the nature of a greeting to a sister State, al- 
lied to the South by traditional, social and politi- 
cal ties, and assuring them of protection, and, 
if they desired it, aid in freeing the State from 
^Hhe condition of a conquered province." The 
proclamation was discreetly as well as temperately 
worded ; but those to whom it was addressed 
seemed loath at present to assert sovereign inde- 
pendence for their State, and, by throwing in their 
lot with the South, bring upon themselves Fed- 
eral vengeance. Hence Lee did not get the sup- 
port he expected in the State, and that chiefly be- 
cause hi^ hoped-for allies were in Southern and 
Eastern Maryland, between whom and himself 
lay a strong force of the Federal army under 
McClellan, who had once more been given the 
chief Unionist command. The Southern leader 
lost no time, however, in vain regret, but pre- 
sently turned his attention to rid the region to the 
west of him and the Virginia Valley of Union 
troops, and get up from Winchester the much- 
needed supplies for his army. 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 107 

While McClellan was in search of Lee to bring 
him again to battle, the great Southern leader 
desired to keep his old adversary and his freshly- 
organized army of nearly 90,000 men away from 
his base of supplies. With this intent, he now 
withdrew from Frederick, and moved northward 
via Boonsboro' towards Hagerstown. But Lee 
had another purpose in view in making this move- 
ment, which was the daring one of capturing the 
Federal garrisons and occupying Martinsburg and 
Harper's Ferry. These, posts, General Halleck 
had ordered still to be held, in spite of McClellan's 
suggestion that they should be vacated, while 
Maryland was invaded by Lee and his army. To 
secure them, cut off their garrisons' retreat down 
the Potomac, and capture the well-stored arsenal, 
with its munitions of war, of Harper's Ferry, 
while clearing the Virginia Valley from all possi- 
ble interference with his communications, Lee 
entrusted Jackson and Ewell with the task, giv- 
ing them the assistance also of Hill's division, 
with those of McLaws, Anderson, and Walker. 
The execution of the project was unexpectedly 
but gratifyingly successful ; for on the approach 
of Hill's command the Martinsburg garrison evac- 
uated the place and withdrew to Harper's Ferry ; 
while the latter, after a stiff fight for the com- 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

manding Federal positions on Maryland and Boli- 
var Heights, overlooking the post, and a hot bom- 
bardment, hoisted the white flag of surrender to 
Jackson and Hill. With the fall of Harper's 
Ferry (Sept. 14), the Confederates captured 11,000 
Federal troops, over 70 pieces of artillery, 13,000 
stand of arms, besides 200 wagons and a large 
amount of army stores. Leaving Hill to receive 
the surrender and look after the captured treas- 
ure, Jackson hastened back by forced marches 
with his command to Sharpsburg, in answer to 
an urgent call from Lee, whose army was sud- 
denly confronted by that of McClellan, the Fed- 
eral commander having obtained possession of a 
confidential memorandum of Lee to D. H. Hill, 
outlining the plan of his projected campaign. 
The possession of this communication, however 
obtained, was of great value to McClellan, and 
for once the latter took instant advantage of it, 
and urged forward his army to checkmate the 
Southern chieftain, who was in ignorance of the 
miscarriage of the memorandum of instructions 
and of his adversary's knowledge of his designs 
and the outlined disposition of his forces. 

The appearance of the Federal main body so 
unexpectedly at Boonsboro' was at first an em- 
barrassment, not to say a perplexity, to Lee, as 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 109 

well as an alarming menace, considering how his 
army had been broken up and weakened by the 
despatch of portions of it on detached expeditions. 
He, however, summoned Longstreet's command 
from Hagerstown to the support of Hill, who by 
this time was keeping at bay at Fox's Gap a strong 
Federal force under Eeno, and at Turner's Gap 
was also fighting off a furious onset by Hooker, 
both defensive actions being gallantly maintained 
through the entire day of Sept. 14. Southward 
from Turner's Gap, at another pass in the moun- 
tain ridge in the vicinity of Boonsboro', McLaws' 
small contingent was on the same day driven from 
the Gap (Crampton's) he sought pluckily to defend 
against a force of 8,000 belonging to Franklins' 
command. The prospect was hence far from 
cheering to General Lee, who had himself to give 
way before the advance of McClellan's main body 
and retire upon Sharpsburg, to which place he 
directed McLaws also to retreat with his shattered 
corps. Here, at Sharpsburg, on the early morn- 
ing of the 15th, Lee made what disposition of his 
forces was possible to him under the strained cir- 
cumstances ; though by noon his great heart was 
relieved by news of Jackson's success at Harper's 
Ferry, and his now rapid approach. Gladdened 
by the news, Lee at once decided to give Mc- 



110 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Clellan battle at Sharpsburg, though he had, as 
yet, only a mere handful of men (not over 12,000) 
to oppose to the advance column (about 60,000 
strong) of the Unionist army. The enemy, more- 
over, was inspirited by their successes and by the 
losses (close upon 3,000) they had inflicted on 
the commands of Hill, Longstreet, and McLaws ; 
while their own losses were much smaller, though 
the Federal General Keno had fallen, and they 
had captured many prisoners. But the fighting 
in the region of South Mountain was but the pre- 
liminaries of a general engagement, which was 
now to be fought in the neighborhood of Antie- 
tam Creek, in front of Sharpsburg, where General 
Lee had taken up position. 

Here, at Sharpsburg, on the 16th of September, 
the Federal army came up in strong force, when 
McClellan at once formed his lines of attack, with 
Porter in the center, Burnside on his left flank, 
and Hooker, Franklin, and Sumner on his right. 
Jackson by this time had arrived with his com- 
mand, and was assigned to a position on the Ha- 
gerstown road, extending towards the Potomac, 
supported on his left rear by Hood and Stuart, 
while on his right were the depleted divisions of 
Hill, Longstreet, and Walker. On the 17th, 
Hooker's command, supported by Mansfield 



, THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. m 

(18,000 strong), which had crossed the Antietam, 
now advanced, covered by a furious cannonade, 
and sought to get possession of the Hagerstown 
road. Jackson quickly divined the Federal move- 
ment and its purpose, and endeavored to oppose 
it with his own division, and EwelPs, under Law- 
ton, a combined force of but 4,000 men. Lee's 
entire army was now still under 35,000 ; but, in 
spite of the great disparity in numbers, the Con- 
federates once more exhibited their superiority as 
a fighting force by repulsing, throughout a long 
day's sanguinary encounter, every attack of the 
whole army of the enemy, extending along its 
entire front for fully four miles. 

The chief incidents of the battle, perhaps the 
most bloody so far of the war, were the des- 
perate defense of the Confederate left line, which 
brought it a grim harvest of death from the en- 
filading fire of a Federal battery, commandingiy 
placed, though it was vigorously replied to by the 
guns under Stuart and S. D. Lee ; the falling 
back of Jackson's command, on the advance of 
Sumner, after having heroically repelled both 
Hooker's and Mansfield's corps, and exhausted 
its ammunition ; and the murderous fire that had 
fallen on Hayes' and Walker's brigades from the 
overwhelming Federal onset. Luckily for the 



112 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Confederates, Lee was able, at a crisis in the 
day's unequal contest, to strengthen Jackson 
with two brigades from Longstreet's right, and 
so save ^^ Stonewall" from rout by or surrender 
to the fresh forces Sumner had brought up after 
he had practically driven Hooker and Mansfield 
from the field. This timely intervention turned 
the scale in the '^ rebel " favor, and foiled McClel- 
lan's game of turning Lee's left. Signal also was 
the deliverance during the day from Burnside's 
repeated attempts to force a passage across the 
Stone Bridge over the Antietam Creek, with the 
design of capturing Sharpsburg, and so cutting 
off Lee from his communications at Shepherds- 
town. To defend the Bridge and protect Lee's 
center during the confiict on the Confederate left, 
the single division of General D. E. Jones, of 
Longstreet's command, and the small brigade of 
General Toombs (only 400 strong) was all that 
could be spared to keep Burnside's large force in 
check. Late in the afternoon, the latter at length 
forced his way across the Creek and beat back 
both Toombs and Jones, when A. P. Hill's 2,000 
men from Harper's Ferry appeared on the scene, 
and, by Lee's orders, rushed to Jones's assistance, 
stemmed the retreat, and finally drove Burnside 
back to the shelter of the Federal batteries across 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 113 

the Antietam. Most opportune was the arrival 
and prompt, daring service of Hill and his com- 
mand at the juncture, for serious would have been 
the result to the Southern army had Burnside 
succeeded in his attempt, in spite even of the suc- 
cess met with on the Confederate left and in other 
parts of the bloody field. As it was, dire had been 
the day's carnage, and pitiful were the masses of 
dead, of both armies, which strewed the battle- 
field when night drew its pall of darkness over the 
scene. Stubborn, nevertheless, was Lee's deter- 
mination to renew the struggle on the morrow, 
but in this he was indifferently supported by his 
chief lieutenants, after a council of war, called 
by Lee at the close of the day's fighting, for 
almost entire commands had been annihilated, 
and the day's havoc might well make the stoutest 
heart quail. In spite of this adverse counsel, and 
the suggestion thrown out by most of his generals 
to withdraw across the Potomac, Lee held to his 
decision to renew the fighting with the dawn of 
a new day. He was led to take this stand from 
a knowledge of the punishment the Federals had 
had, and the dread of still more disastrous conse- 
quences to ''the boys in blue" if the fighting 
was renewed. He was also encouraged by the 
accession he had gained during the day in A. P. 



114: LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Hill's command from Harper's Ferry, and by the 
return to their respective corps of several thou- 
sands who had been left behind to recruit their 
strength and provide themselves with new out- 
fits at the period when Lee's army had entered 
Maryland. 

With the battle of Sharpsburg, or Antietam, as 
it is also called, the invasion of Maryland came, 
however, to a close ; for though Lee' remained in 
possession of the well-contested battlefield during 
the day of Sept. 18, awaiting a renewal of the 
fighting, McClellan did not venture again to 
attack him, but spent the day in reorganizing his 
shattered army and strengthening it by further 
reinforcements from Washington. On the night 
of the 18th, as the Southern army was badly in 
need of every necessary want, Lee therefore 
deemed it wiser to fall in with his generals' 
suggestion to withdraw across the Potomac and 
seek rest and refreshment for his wearied and 
comfortless forces on the Virginia shore. The 
crossing was effected near Shepherdstown, every- 
thing of value, including the spoils of Harper's 
Ferry, being withdrawn, save his unburied dead ; 
a rear force being left to guard the ford over 
which the Confederates retreated and foil any 
attempt by the enemy in pursuit. The bulk of 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 115 

the army then proceeded to Winchester to await 
the coming of fresh troops from Eichmond, with 
the return of those who had been left to recruit 
their strength on the Virginia side of the river, 
before Maryland had been invaded. On learning 
of the withdrawal of the Southern army, McClellan 
despatched Porter's corps in pursuit, only to be 
stopped at the ford by Pendleton's artillery and a 
small rear-protecting body of infantry. Here, on 
the night of the 19th, Porter, however, managed 
to get his command across the Potomac, aided in 
this by the fire of his own guns from the Mary- 
land shore. When this became known to Lee, he 
directed a part of Hill's division to return to the 
river and drive Porter's force across it. This was 
so effectively accomplished that masses of Porter's 
men w^ere either captured or driven into the river 
and drowned — an exploit that so alarmed McClel- 
lan that no further pursuit of the Confederates 
was for the time attempted, and they were thus 
left to a season of restful quiet at Winchester. 
How greatly needed was this period of rest may 
be realized when we recall that the Southern 
army had within the space of three brief months 
marched fully 300 miles, for the most part bare- 
footed and in tattered regimentals, with no ade- 
quate sustenance ; while it had fought in and 



116 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

won a dozen engagements, captured many thou- 
sand prisoners, besides 150 cannon, many thou- 
sand stand of arms, and a large amount of valuable 
army stores and material of war. It had also in- 
flicted a loss upon the enemy of nearly 70,000 men, 
a sixth of whom had fallen at Antietam ; while 
its own loss in the latter was over 8,000, out of a 
total of 35,000 — the entire strength of the Con- 
federate army when it withdrew to Winchester. 
While quartered there. General Lee, with his 
usual thoughtfulness, issued the following Gen- 
eral Order (dated Headquarters of the Army of 
Northern Virginia, Oct. 2, 1862), reviewing the 
incidents of the campaign and commending his 
army for its valiant achievements : 

^' In reviewing the achievements of the army 
during the present campaign, the Commanding 
General cannot withhold the expression of his 
admiration of the indomitable courage it has dis- 
played in battle, and its cheerful endurance of 
privation and hardship on the march. 

'* Since your great victories around Eichmond, 
you have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain, 
expelled him from the Rappahannock, and after 
a conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him on 
the Plains of Manassas, and forced him to take 
shelter within the fortifications around his cap- 



THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN. 117 

ital. Without halting for repose, you crossed the 
Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry, 
made prisoners of more than 11,000 men, and cap- 
tured upwards of 70 pieces of artillery, all their 
small arms, and other munitions of war. While 
one corps of the army was thus engaged, the 
other ensured its success by arresting, at Boons- 
boro', the combined armies of the enemy, advanc- 
ing under their favorite General to the relief of 
their beleaguered comrades. 

" On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than one- 
third his numbers, you resisted, from daylight till 
dark, the whole army of the enemy, and repulsed 
every attack along his entire front, of more than 
four miles in extent. The whole of the following 
day you stood prepared to resume the conflict on 
the same ground, and retired next morning, with- 
out molestation, across the Potomac. Two at- 
tempts, subsequently made by the enemy, to follow 
you across the river, have resulted in his complete 
discomfiture, each being driven back with loss. 

*^ Achievements such as these demanded much 
valor and patriotism. History records few ex- 
amples of greater fortitude and endurance than 
this army has exhibited ; and I am commissioned 
by the President to thank you in the name of the 
Confederate States for the undying fame you 



118 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

have won for their arms. Much as you have 
done, much more remains to be accomplished. 
The enemy again threatens us with invasion, and 
to your tried valor and patriotism the country 
looks with confidence for deliverance and safety. 
Your past exploits give assurance that this con- 
fidence is not misplaced. 

R. E. LEE, General Commanding, 



CHAPTEE IX. 

THE FREDERICKSBURG CAMPAIGN (OCT. -DEC, 1862) ; 
AND THE EDICT OF EMANCIPATION. 

After issuing the appreciative General Order 
to his army, given at the close of the last chapter, 
General Lee, having received some 5,000 addi- 
tional troops, cast about him to see how he could 
best pursue the struggle and continue success- 
fully to meet his adversary, ^' the little Napoleon." 
One thing was now clear to him, that, with his 
small army, he could not hope again to take the 
offensive ; all he could well do was to keep fur- 
ther watch on the Federal approaches to Rich- 
mond, harass the outposts of the enemy, and by 
daring raids interfere with its communications 
with Washington, and learn what he could of Mc- 
Clellan's future movements. In the two latter 
designs, he had in the gallant Stuart and his 
cavalry command a highly efficient, as well as 
valiant and trusted, aid. On the 8th of Oct., Lee 
directed Stuart to make a reconnaissance across the 

Potomac, with portions of several mounted brig- 

119 



120 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ades (some 600 in number), with four guns. The 
crossing was effected above WilHamsport, whence 
the column moved swiftly through Maryland, 
passing by the right of McClellan, and even entered 
Pennsylvania as far as Chambersburg. Here, 
and 671 route, Stuart picked up fresh horses for his 
troopers, destroyed a considerable amount of 
Federal stores and public property, and returned 
by McClellan's left flank, ascertaining his position 
and strength, and all within so brief a time as to 
surprise and elude the Northern army he had cir- 
cled round, besides sending a thrill of fear, by his 
boldness and celerity of movement, into the bosoms 
of the authorities at Washington. The results of 
the reconnaissance were, as usual, of high value to 
Lee ; while the dashing raid roused the Federal 
Government to renewed urgency in insisting upon 
their tardy, deliberately moving Commander-in- 
chief making a further demonstration against 
Eichmond and the Confederate line interposed to 
protect it. Towards the close of October found 
McClellan once more crossing the Potomac, this 
time near Berlin, Ya., below Harper's Ferry, 
which before this had been reoccupied by a 
Northern garrison, followed by a leisurely advance 
in the direction of Warrenton and the line of the 
Upper Rappahannock. To meet the movement, 



THE FREDERICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. I2l 

Lee directed Longstreet to hasten with his com- 
mand across the Blue Ridge Mountain, which he 
promptly did, taking up a position under Lee's 
eye at Culpeper Court House. 

At this juncture, McClellan, who, by his pro- 
crastinations, had lost the confidence of his Wash- 
ington superiors, was relieved of his command, 
which was now given to General Ambrose E. 
Burnside, an officer who had much less of the 
genius for fighting than had McClellan, whom, 
moreover, the Northern army loved, in spite of his 
over-cautiousness and want of success. Burnside's 
plan of campaign had for its objective Richmond, 
though he first sought to concentrate his various 
divisions, under Sumner, Hooker, and Franklin, 
on the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg. 
On learning this, Lee tactically met the movement 
by ordering Longstreet to move thither, to con- 
front Burnside ; while, a little later, he brought 
on the scene the redoubtable Jackson, who by 
this time was at Orange Court House, to unite 
with Longstreet at Fredericksburg. Here, on the 
Stafford Heights, overlooking the town and the 
Rappahannock's waters, the Union army, 116, OOt 
strong, was massed towards the close of November, 
the Federal artillery being in a position to sweep 
the two miles plain intervening between the river 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

and the bluffs of the Spottsylvania Hills, where 
were marshalled *' Lee's Legions," now recruited 
to a total strength of about 78,000. A couplo of 
weeks were consumed by the Federals in getting 
ready their pontoons and bridge-erecting construc- 
tion to enable them to cross the river, which they 
contrived to do in large force on the day and 
night of December 12th. On the morning of 
the 13th, the battle began by a vigorous attack 
of French's division against the Confederate 
right, 30,000 strong, under Jackson, at Hamil- 
ton's Crossing, an onslaught which was finally 
repulsed ; while, on the Federal right, the forces 
under Sumner and Hooker moved out of Fred- 
ericksburg Town and attempted to storm the 
Confederate position on Marye's Hill, but had first 
to cross the intervening plain, where the advanc- 
ing Northern forces were successively withered by 
the enfilading fire of the Confederate artillery and 
sharpshooters. In spite of this destruction, fresh 
troops were again and again brought forward to 
the assault, but with the same result— practical 
annihilation — until nightfall brought the bloody 
conflict to a close. Fortunately for his command, 
Burnside wisely desisted in his design of renewing 
the battle, and two days later he recrossed the 
Kappahannock with his dispirited troops, having 



THE FREDERICKSBUKG CAMPAIGN. 123 

suffered a loss of over 12,600 in killed, wounded, 
and missing. The Confederate loss in the battle 
was close upon 6,400, but the rejoicings of '^ the 
boys in gray " were great at the victory. After 
*' the horror of Fredericksburg," the two armies 
spent the next four (winter) months in quiet on 
either side of the Eappahannock, though towards 
the middle of January (1863) the rash Burnside 
was dismissed and the chief command of the 
Army of the Potomac was given to ^^ Fighting 
Joe" — General J. E. Hooker. 

The year we now enter upon saw the promul- 
gation (Jan. 1, 1863) of the far-seeing and hu- 
mane Edict of Emancipation, which marked 
the Lincoln Administration's executive at this 
period, and put slavery forever under legal and 
moral ban in the States and Territories of the 
Union. Emancipation, it is true, was resorted to 
as ^^a war measure" in the thick of the deadly 
contest between the two sections of the riven 
Nation ; but with Lincoln, long before the era of 
the decree and the amendment to the Constitution 
which abolished slavery forever from the country, 
the traffic, as we have elsewhere observed, had 
always been held in abhorrence, and deep in his 
mind had lain the thought of abolishing it or 
seeing it abolished. The immediate effect of the 



124: LIFE OF GENE!iAL LEE. 

measure, as we know, was to drive the South 
well-nigh to the verge of desperation ; while at 
the North it was only partially accepted, and for 
a time it aroused even bitter animadversion. 
Happily, however, a change of sentiment came 
ere long, when it was seen what freedom meant 
to the slave, and how telling were the conse- 
quences of emancipation in the issues of the war. 
The act, almost entirely, was Lincoln's own, and 
its consummation did surpassing honor to him, 
as well as to his Administration, and, at large, to 
the people who endorsed and applauded it. 

Before resuming the narration of the incidents 
connected with the operations of the two hostile 
armies on the Rappahannock, let us glance for 
a little at the operations in the West (chiefly 
Federal successes), in the latter half of the past 
year. These Western operations, it is true, had 
nothing to do with General Lee, or he with them ; 
but they form part of the great internecine strug- 
gle of the time, and, hence, should find some 
chronicle, however brief, of their happenings in 
this historical Memoiro In our earlier notice 
of the operations in the Mississippi region, we 
indicated the motive of Federal exploitation on 
the great highway, as one inspired not only by 
the purpose of getting possession of the river and 



THE FREDERICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 125 

the important towns on its banks, but also by 
the intent of cutting the Confederacy in twain, 
and so limiting the area of sympathy with, if 
not of actual aid in, Secession. The dual pur- 
pose was what instigated the Federal attack on 
Island No. X., in the Mississippi, and the move- 
ments of General Grant, after capturing Forts 
Henry and Donelson, up the Tennessee Kiver in 
the direction of Corinth. Of the operations in 
the region, the most notable was the battle of 
Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing (April 6, 1862), 
when Grant was driven back by the Confederate 
general, who lost his life in the engagement, 
Albert Sidney Johnston, and but for the timely 
arrival of Buell and his command would have 
been routed by the Confederate leader, Beau- 
regard, who, later on, fell back upon Corinth 
and after a siege evacuated it (May 30). Other 
Confederate operations in the West include those 
of General Bragg, who took A. S. Johnston's 
command, and with 35,000 men proceeded by rail 
to Mobile, thence northward, where he seized 
Chattanooga, and with Kirby Smith invaded 
Kentucky. Here Bragg sought to head off Buell 
in a race to Louisville, Ky., but on October 8th he 
was defeated at Perry ville, and fell back on Chat- 
tanooga. Hither Buell, for some reason, did 



126 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

not pursue Bragg, but went into camp at Nash- 
ville, on the Cumberland River. Emboldened by 
Buell's failure to follow him, Bragg now set out 
for Nashville, advancing northward as far as 
Murfreesboro, where he encountered the Federal 
forces under Rosecrans on their way south to 
Chattanooga. Here, at Stone River, on the last 
day of the year, 1862, a serious battle was fought, 
as bloody in its issue as were those of Shiloh and 
Antietam. The engagement opened badly for the 
Northerners, two of whose divisions were routed 
on the right, by Rosecrans's tactical neglect 
in placing them in a weak position, which threw 
the Union army on the defensive. It, however, 
was saved by the brilliant charges of Sheridan 
and Thomas, and the battle ended in '^ a draw," 
after 23,000 men on either side had been put 
liors de combat. Two days' later, when Rose- 
crans advanced upon ^^the Rebs," Bragg, after a 
brief resistance, retired once more upon Chat- 
tanooga. Meanwhile, the Southern commanders 
Price and Yan Dorn, who had been operating 
in the region, in the hope of driving Grant down 
the Tennessee River, sought to execute their 
assigned parts of the Confederate campaign, gave 
battle to the Union armies at Iuka(Sept, 19), and 
at Corinth (Oct. 3 and 4). In both battles, the 



THE FREDERICKSBURG CAMPAIGN. 127 

Southern forces were repulsed (at Corinth, dis- 
astrously so), by the portion of Grant's army 
under Rosecrans, though the fightings prevented 
for a time the sending of reinforcements to Buell. 
The latter, soon after this, was relieved of his 
command, and was replaced by General Rose- 
crans. 

But it is time to return to the region of the 
Rappahannock, where we left the Union and the 
Confederate armies in winter quarters during a 
severe and inclement season. So intensely cold 
was it that some of the Federal pickets were 
frozen to death at their posts ; while the South- 
erners suffered greatly from want of adequate 
provisions and the warm clothing and comfort- 
able footwear which the Confederate Commissary- 
and Quartermaster-Generals unfeelingly failed to 
provide. The morale of ^' the rebel " army was 
nevertheless maintained, thanks to General Lee's 
constant and unwearied efforts in its behalf, and 
his ready, considerate sharing in the privations 
of his men. Meanwhile, Burnside was restlessly 
anxious to do something to advance his own mod- 
est attainments and reputation in the chief North- 
ern command. By the 19th of January (1863), 
he had planned to cross the Rappahannock, in 
force, at Bank's Ford, some six miles above Fred- 



128 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ericksburg, to assail the Confederate army and 
drive it from the strong position it held near by, 
and, if possible, cut off Lee's communications with 
Kichmond. The carrying out of this design was 
entrusted to the divisions of Hooker and Franklin, 
aided by Sigel's corps, which was left to guard 
the Federal camp and its approaches, while 
Couch's corps was to make a feint in another 
direction, down the river, all being protected by 
strong batteries of Northern artillery. The whole 
movement, however, miscarried, in consequence 
of a series of violent rainstorms coming on just 
as the project was about to be launched, which 
made havoc of the roads, besides swelling the 
river to unusual proportions. The failure of the 
expedition was naturally disconcerting to Burn- 
side, who, in a fit of rage and jealousy, sought 
to dismiss a number of his generals, but this was 
promptly negatived at Washington, when Burn- 
^side had no alternative left him but to resign, 
which he at once did, and was replaced in the chief 
command, as we have already indicated, by Gen- 
eral Hooker. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE. 

The remainder of the winter Lee occupied in 
preparing for the Spring campaign, of 1863, and 
in further efforts to protect his army from the 
early anticipated attack of the enemy under its new 
commander-in-chief. He still had to importune 
the Richmond War Office not only for more reg- 
ular and adequate supplies for his men, but also 
for more artillery and better ammunition, as well 
as for additional troops, for by this time his army 
had been weakened by the withdrawal of Long- 
street's division, in February 1863, which had 
been sent so uth of the James Ei ver, near Suffolk, 
to check a threatened demonstration of the enemy 
in that section, as well as to collect and forward 
supplies. Lee had also recently suffered heavily in 
the loss from death or wounds on the field of 
many of his capable general officers ; while in- 
creased vigilance was required of him and his 
staff, now that greater activity in the enemy's 

ranks began to show itself under the Hooker 

129 



130 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

regime. He was furthermore at a decided dis- 
advantage in having now opposed to him a 
largely-strengthened and freshly-recruited army, 
over 133,000 strong, in fine fighting condition, 
including a greatly increased cavalry equipment 
(of 12,000 troopers), and 400 pieces of artillery. 
This large force gave the Union command a 
numerical superiority over Lee's entire army of 
almost 80,000 men. Unfortunately for the 
North, with all the advantages it had in pos- 
sessing a force in the field twice the size of Lee's, 
and all the resources of a mighty nation behind 
it, Hooker's army was to suffer at Chancellors- 
ville a most disastrous and humiliating defeat ; 
while its leader was to prove himself as great 
a failure as any of his many predecessors. 

Hooker was early informed that Longstreet's 
command had been detached from Lee's strength 
and despatched to the James Kiver, and this fact 
made the Union general confident of success, and 
even boastful. He even went so far as to affirm 
that '^certain destruction" awaited Lee, and 
that ''the Rebel army is now the legitimate 
property of the Army of the Potomac ! " The 
Southern leader, on the contrary, was more 
modest and tactful (flippant he could never be), 
as well as more reverential, but hopeful ; while, 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 131 

as usual, he took pains personally to see over 
every defensive site in the region, and omitted no 
precaution to ensure the safety and wellbeing of 
his men, and, if Heaven willed it, the triumph of 
his command. His intuition, coupled with his 
experience as a great military tactician, more- 
over, enabled Lee at once to divine Hooker's prob- 
able plan of attack, despite the Northern com- 
mander's successive feints, in the hope of mislead- 
ing him or throwing him off the true scent. Nor, 
aside from this, was he lacking in the precautions 
usually taken by the leader of an army when 
about to go into action, in availing himself of all 
that can be learned from watcliful outpost com- 
manders, and, by utilizing to the full his intelli- 
gent scouting and reconnaissance force. Hence, 
when the middle of March came (a month even 
before the battle of Chancellorsville occurred), 
Lee was able to make such disposition of his 
army as sound generalship suggested, and was 
also in a position to direct his right arm, 
General Stuart, the Confederate cavalry watch- 
dog, to look to the crossings of the Upper Eap- 
pahannock, and, with the assistance of Fitzhugh 
Lee's brigade, checkmate the passage of a Fed- 
eral column, under General Aver ill at Kelly's 
Ford, some 25 miles above Fredericksburg. On 



132 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

this occasion, the watchfulness was rewarded, for 
though Averill forced the passage of the river 
and captured the picket-guard, his cavalry contin- 
gent was met by that of Fitzhugh Lee, and, after 
a hot engagement of many hours' duration, was 
driven back, having suffered a serious loss. The 
encounter at Kelly's Ford is spoken of as ^ ^ the 
best cavalry fight in the Y/ar," and in it the 
first blood was spilled on both sides in the Chan- 
cellors ville campaign, the Southerners losing on 
their side the gallant young Pelham, Stuart's 
chief of horse artillery, who was known as the 
pride of Alabama for his superb courage and 
dash. 

Over a month later, or, more precisely, on the 
closing days of April (1863), when the Spring 
floods had somewhat abated. Hooker's army began 
to cross the Eappahannock in force, with the 
intent of bagging, as it thought, the entire 
Army of Northern Virginia. The movement was 
a menacing one to Lee, for its design was not only 
to turn the Confederate left flank and get in its 
rear, by way of the fords on the Upper Eappahan- 
nock, or rather the Eapidan Eiver ; but to make 
a strong demonstration, by way of the United 
States Ford, in front of the bend in the Eappahan- 
nock, near the Mine Eun Eoad, thence to take up 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 133 

a position around Chancellorsville ; while Sedg- 
wick, with a large force, was to cross by way of 
Bank's Ford, or lower down the river, and con- 
centrate between the latter and the plain of 
Fredericksburg. Besides these various environing 
masses of Union soldiery, Hooker had ordered his 
chief cavalry commander, Stoneman, to make a 
wide detour, as Fitzhugh Lee relates, ^Svell 
around the Southern left and rear, throw 10,000 
sabres between Lee and Eichmond, breaking up 
his communications, stopping his supplies, and be 
in a position to obstruct the Confederate retreat 
until Hooker could deliver a final blow." Though 
Hooker's braggadocio little affected Lee, Stone- 
man, however, succeeded in reaching Culpeper, 
in a movement against Gordonsville ; but in the 
region he had the ever-alert Stuart to deal with, 
in spite of the flanking column which Hooker 
had intervened between Lee and his Confeder- 
ate cavalry. Stuart was, nevertheless, directed 
to be watchful of all movements, and especially 
to keep an eye on, and seek to resist, the advance 
of a Federal column which was known to be 
crossing the Rapidan at the Germanna Ford. 
Stuart, on his part, while maintaining a hot skir- 
mishing fire on the vanguard of the Germanna col- 
umn, ordered W. H. P. Lee with a couple of regi- 



134 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ments to oppose Stoneman's operations at Gor- 
donsville, and himself joined Lee, on the 30th of 
April, after cutting his way through the Federal 
cavalry and riding on by way of Ford's Tavern. 
Hooker's army had meantime massed itself at 
Chancellorsville, 50,000 strong, and got his 12,000 
horse in rear of Lee, threatening the latter's com- 
munications. On Lee's right, Sedgwick's com- 
mand of 40,000, had, moreover, crossed the Eap- 
pahannock below Fredericksburg and menaced the 
Confederate right wing. Here, however, Early's 
division of Jackson's command, with the corps of 
Anderson and McLaws, looked after Sedgwick ; 
while they also prepared to co-operate against 
Hooker, who, with Sykes's, Sickles', and Slocum's 
brigades had taken up a fortified position extend- 
ing between the Plank Road and the Old Turn- 
pike Road, surrounded by a dense forest, with a 
tangled mass of under-growth. At this time. 
Hooker had quite Y5,000 men in the vicinity of 
Chancellorsville ; but both Lee and Jackson were 
now fast concerting a movement to surprise ' ' the 
Feds," which was presently executed by "Stone- 
wall," with his accustomed vigor and daring. This 
was a movement across Hooker's front to get 
upon his right flank, and there fall on Howard's 
11th Federal corps ; while Lee was to mask the 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. I35 

operation by a fierce onslaught on Hooker's center 
and left. Jackson's furtive march was, however, 
discovered by the Union general. Sickles, as it 
filed past the Wellford furnace, but before it 
could be seen what design ^'Stonewall" had in 
making it. The cry was at once mistakenly raised 
by the Federal army, that Lee's entire command 
was attempting a retreat towards Eichmond. 
Taking advantage of the false inference and the 
Federal pursuit of Jackson, Lee directed Ander- 
son's guns to face about and open fire upon 
Sickles and prepared an onslaught upon Hooker's 
right ; while the latter's center went astray in 
the wilderness in its effort to pursue Jackson, the 
purpose of whose movement the Federal army 
had entirely misconceived. 

The day before Jackson made his move upon 
Hooker's left (May 2), a spirited dash was made 
by Hooker to secure and occupy an elevated plat- 
eau, held at this time by a weak corps under 
the Confederate general, Anderson, which com- 
manded the Federal position at Chancellorsville. 
This ridge Lee was most anxious to retain, but 
it was captured by a portion of Hooker's army. 
Just as it was taken from Anderson's command, 
Jackson arrived with portions of several brigades, 
and, seeing the Confederate commander's plight 



136 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

in having to abandon it, he daringly pressed for- 
ward and retook it ; while Hooker, now aware 
that Lee's army was not in retreat, recalled his 
force and fell back upon his main position around 
Chancellorsville, where he rapidly set to work to 
fortify himself. Here, on his right and left, the 
Confederates partly enveloped him ; while Sedg- 
wick, off at Fredericksburg, had Early's divisions 
to look after him, in front of the city, and between 
it and the bend of the Eappahannock at Bank's 
Ford. On May 2nd, Lee now began to maneuver 
with a varied play of attack upon Hooker's center, 
to draw his attention from Jackson's movement 
directed against the Federal left, and especially 
upon Howard's 11th corps, which formerly had 
been Sigel's. It was six o'clock in the evening 
when the first shots were fired on Hooker's left 
flank, and, two hours later, Jackson had succeeded 
in driving the 11th corps back upon the 12th, 
which formed the center of Hooker's position. 

The incidents of this achievement of Jackson 
are of so thrilling a character, and, unhappily, 
so calamitous in their consequences personally to 
the redoubtable ^'Stonewall," as well as to the 
Southern cause in general, that we are here 
tempted to give a fuller record of them from a 
contemporary narrative, that of Mr. James D, 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. I37 

McCabe, jr., in his interesting work on the ^'Life 
and Campaigns of General Eobert E. Lee." 
'' General Jackson," writes Mr. McCabe, '^ led his 
troops in person. Those who saw him declare 
that he seemed carried away by the excitement 
of the moment. He leaned forward on his horse, 
extending his arm far in front, as though he 
wished to push the men forward, and his voice 
was heard exclaiming : ' Press forward ! press 
forward ! ' every few minutes during the entire 
attack. When not thus mastered by the ardor of 
battle, his right hand was raised aloft with that 
gesture now familiar to his men, as though he were 
praying to the God of battles for victory. . . . 
" By eight o'clock the advance had been pressed 
to within half a mile of Hooker's headquarters, 
when, in the darkness, the Southern line became 
entangled in the heavy abatis of felled trees 
with which Hooker had fringed the works around 
Chancellorsville. Eodes' and Colston's men be- 
came mingled in the greatest confusion, so that 
it was impossible for either officer to distinguish 
his command. To remedy this the troops were 
halted, Rodes was directed to fall back and reform 
his men, and A. P. Hill's division was placed in 
front in the room of the troops thus withdrawn. 
As the line halted, the Federal batteries opened 



138 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

from the cleared ground around Chancellorsville, 
which about this time presented a scene of the 
wildest confusion. 

'^ The panic-stricken soldiers of the 11th corps 
rushed back upon their center as Jackson's infantry 
swept down them. As the terror spread, men, 
horses, cannon, wagons, and ambulances became 
mingled in one frightful mass, which sped across 
the clearing around Chancellorsville with the 
force of a whirlwind — all aiming straight for the 
Eappahannock. Officers tried in vain, by threats, 
entreaties and blows, to stay the fugitives. 
They were deaf to everything. For a moment it 
seemed that the career of Hooker's army was 
ended, but just at this time the Southern advance 
was checked by the accident I have mentioned. 
But for this, Jackson would have slept that night 
at Chancellorsville, and his valuable life would 
have been spared to the country. 

^' Hooker was quick to take advantage of the 
pause. Opening with every gun he could collect 
at the moment, twenty-two in all, upon the woods 
held by the Confederates, he endeavored to form 
his troops to resist the attack. Leading his old 
division forward in person, he became for the 
moment once more the impetuous soldier that had 
won such admiration even from his enemies. He 



THE CHANCELLORS VILLE CAMPAIGN. 139 

posted this division at the edge of the clearing, 
directly in Jackson's front, and awaited a renewal 
of the attack. Fresh artillery was brought up, 
and fifty pieces were soon sweeping the woods 
with an iron hail. 

^^It was ten o'clock, and the moon had risen, 
lighting up the woods with a ghostly glimmer 
which paled before the fierce glare of the can- 
nonade. Late as it was, Jackson determined to 
renew the attack and get possession of the road 
to the United States Ford. As his troops were 
forming for the assault, he became so anxious to 
ascertain the exact state of affairs in his front, 
that he rode forward to reconnoiter, giving orders 
to his men not to fire, unless cavalry approached 
from the direction of the enemy. He was accom- 
panied by two of his staff, about half a dozen 
couriers, and two men of the signal corps. 

*' Unfortunately, although the enemy were 
scarcely more than two hundred yards distant, 
no pickets had been established, and General 
Jackson found himself considerably beyond his 
lines, with nothing between him and the enemy. 
Had this important duty been performed, the 
sad results of this reconnaissance would have 
been avoided. 

*^As he finished his inspection, General Jack- 



14:0 LIFE OF GENElfAL LEE. 

son directed one of his staff to go back and order 
General A. P. Hill to advance. As he rode back 
to his lines, without giving any warning to his 
men, who had been ordered to look out for 
Federal cavalry, he was fired upon by a brigade 
of his own troops, and severely wounded, twice 
in the left arm, and once in the right hand. His 
whole escort, with the exception of two persons, 
were killed, wounded, or dismounted. 

^^The scene which ensued was agonizing be- 
yond description. General Jackson was assisted 
from his horse by the survivors of the fatal 
volley, almost too weak from loss of blood to 
stand, and tenderly laid in the shelter of the trees 
by the roadside. A messenger was dispatched 
for a surgeon and an ambulance, but before these 
arrived General Hill, who had also been exposed 
to the fire, came up, having succeeded in check- 
ing it. He was made acquainted with the cal- 
amity that had befallen the army, and instructed 
to assume the command of the corps. In a few 
minutes General Hill repaired to his post, and 
shortly afterwards it was reported that the enemy 
were advancing, and were within only one hun- 
dred yards of the spot where the wounded Gen- 
eral lay. An effort was now made to assist him 
back to his lines, and, supported by two of his 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 1-11 

officers, one of whom had just come up, he 
walked slowly back, under a fearful fire of artil- 
lery, which was suddenly opened from the enemy's 
batteries. On the way he passed his troops, who 
were in motion to check the advance of the 
enemy, and every effort was made to prevent 
the men from learning who he was. His escort 
of officers, however, excited the curiosity of the 
troops, who repeatedly asked who was wounded. 
The answer was, invariably, a Confederate officer, 
but one of his old veterans recognized him, as he 
walked bareheaded in the moonlight, and, with 
a cry of anguish, exclaimed : ' Great God ; that is 
General Jackson ! ' 

*' During this time Jackson had not been able 
to drag himself twenty steps. He was so ex- 
hausted that his officers procured a litter for him, 
but had not gone far before their path was swept 
by a shower of grape and canister from the Fed- 
eral batteries. One of the litter-bearers was shot 
through both arms, and the litter was placed 
on the ground. For several minutes the firing 
was terrific, forcing the entire party to throw 
themselves down on the ground for safety. As 
soon as the fire of canister veered around, another 
effort was made to convey the General to a place 
of safety, and at last he was placed in an am- 



142 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

bulance and conveyed to Melzi Chancellor's house, 
where he received surgical attention. 

** The firing to which General Jackson had been 
exposed did great execution in the Southern ranks, 
wounding, among others. General A. P. Hill, who 
was compelled to relinquish the command of the 
corps to General Stuart, who was called away 
from his cavalry for this purpose. Nothing fur- 
ther occurred during the night, which was passed 
by both armies in preparing for a renewal of the 
battle the next day." 

Lee was apprised of Jackson's victory and of 
the severe wounds he had received at the same 
instant, and his comment on both was to the effect 
that ^' any victory is a dear one that deprives us 
of the services of Jackson, even for a short time." 
Writing personally to his able and loved lieuten- 
ant, the Southern commander-in-chief congratu- 
lates him on the skill and energy that had won 
another triumph for the army and their common 
country. On the occasion, he feelingly adds that, 
'' could I have directed events, I should have 
chosen, for the good of the country, to have been 
disabled in your stead." Jackson's wounds, un- 
happily as it turned out, were so grievous that his 
left arm had to be amputated, and the operation, 
though borne with his accustomed hardihood, 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. I43 

as well as with his wonted Christian resignation, 
presently proved fatal, his noble life ending a 
week later, on the afternoon of Sunday, May the 
10th. News of Jackson's death brought woe and 
lamentation to all ranks of the Confederate army, 
but no one felt the sorrowful tidings more keenly 
than did his closest friend and affectionate com- 
mander-in-chief, R. E. Lee, who best knew not 
only the high military genius of his comrade- 
in-arms, but his great moral worth. Sore, indeed, 
was the blow to him, for he knew there was no 
one that could replace Jackson, as, alas ! he was 
soon ruefully to find on the next great battlefield 
of the war — that of Gettysburg. 

Aroused to more than his usual combativeness 
by what had happened to Jackson, Lee was early 
astir on the morning of May 3rd, with the pur- 
pose of renewing the attack on Hooker's lines 
around Chancellorsville. The Federal commander 
had succeeded during the night in restoring his 
command to some condition of order and fighting 
strength, and thus was able to resist Lee's furious 
attack on him for some hours ; but by ten o'clock 
the Federals once more became restive and uneasy 
at the repeated Confederate onslaught, and part 
of them began to yield and finally to retreat along 
the road leading towards the Rappahannock and 



144 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the United States ford across it. Meanwhile, 
conflict broke out on another section of the field, 
that around Early's command in front of Fred- 
ericksburg, which was hemming in Sedgwick's 
Federal divisions in that quarter. Hooker, in his 
plight, had instructed his subordinate to attack 
and press Early vigorously and then come to 
his assistance at Chancellorsville. This Sedgwick 
was able to do, in consequence of Early's command 
having been weakened on the previous day by the 
withdrawal from him of McLaws' and Anderson's 
corps. Early was attacked in force on Marye's 
Height, and compelled to fall back, and Lee, 
hearing of this, ordered Wilcox, who was at 
Bank's Ford, watching the crossings of the Eappa- 
hannock, to intercept and retard Sedgwick's ad- 
vance until he could send McLaws and Anderson 
to his assistance. This was done, and the Federal 
advance upon Chancellorsville was stayed and in 
time repulsed. On the following day (May 4), the 
battle was renewed and hotly fought all day, 
finally going against Sedgwick, who saved him- 
self and his command by flight across the Eappa- 
hannock over night. On the 5th, the coup de 
grace was now about to be given to the force it 
was believed Hooker still had behind his defenses 
at Chancellorsville ; but when Lee moved to 



THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 145 

attack him it was discovered that the enemy had 
fled, under cover of a dark and stormy night, cross- 
ing the Eappahannock at the United States Ford, 
and thus leaving the hard-won field in the posses- 
sion of the Confederates. The Federal casualties 
at Chancellorsville, in killed, wounded, and cap- 
tured, amounted to 17,197 ; while the entire Con- 
federate loss was some four thousand less. The 
latter's loss, however, consisted of the flower of 
Lee's fast-depleting army, including General Pax- 
ton, of the '^Stonewall" brigade, and its great 
chieftain, the valiant Christian soldier, General 
T. J. Jackson. The enemy had left on the field, be- 
sides his many dead, 20,000 stand of arms, 30,000 
knapsacks, together with over a dozen heavy guns, 
which became welcome Southern spoil. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE SECOND INVASION OF THE NORTH, AND THE 
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG (jULY 1-3, 1863). 

To the South, several objects were to be gained 
b}^ the crossing of the Potomac and once more 
assuming the offensive by the Army of Northern 
Virginia. Its late successes, in spite of shrunken 
ranks, warranted a new and aggressive move- 
ment, which would relieve Northern Virginia of 
the presence of the enemy, always within striking 
distance of Richmond ; while it would enable it 
to ease the pressure just then of the Northern 
forces upon Confederate arms in the West ; and 
at the same time obtain for Lee's army the 
greatly needed supplies for his men and horses, 
which it was thought could be gathered plen- 
tifully by a spirited and menacing raid as far 
North as Pennsylvania. The feeling of dejection 
at the North at the seeming impossibility of find- 
ing a Union general capable of beating Lee on 
the field favored the projected renewed invasion, 
especially as Hooker's array was, besides being 

146 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. I47 

worsted, greatly depleted by recent casualties and 
by desertions from its ranks ; while Lee's, on the 
other hand, after the period of rest it had had, 
was in fine fettle for a raid across the Potomac, 
with the prospect before it of unlimited loot in the 
North, and the consciousness of striking terror 
throughout the region the army was likely to 
invade. There was, of course, no little risk in- 
volved in Lee's transferring hostilities to North- 
ern regions ; and there was at first some diffi- 
culty in obtaining the consent of the Confederate 
Government to the proposal, as, just then, the 
Eichmond authorities wanted part of Lee's army 
to aid the contest going on in Tennessee, as well 
as to afford succor to Vicksburg, at the period 
being besieged by General Grant. Lee, however, 
as we have seen, was not usually deterred by risks 
to be run, and, as a matter of sound tactics, was 
given to the striking of decisive blows, when his 
judgment suggested them ; hence, he had his 
way, and at once prepared his army for the North- 
ern incursion. Latent in his mind, probably at 
this time, was also the hope that, by some further 
and signal victory, he might terminate the 
struggle, with its direful tale of bloodshed, and 
dictate in the North a treaty which would end the 
war, and give both sections of the country peace, 



14:8 LIFE OF GENeIiAL LEE. 

if not unity. Some such idea in Lee's mind was 
at this period not improbable, especially as he 
knew that importunate voices were now being 
heard in the North calling for an end to the con- 
flict, on the basis of separation. Lee was, more- 
over, confirmed in his purpose of making a new 
foray in the North by the improved strength and 
enthusiasm of his army, which was now aug- 
mented not only by the return of Longstreet's com- 
mand from Suffolk, but also by the return to the 
ranks of the recovered wounded who had been 
on temporary furlough, with other absentees, as 
well as by some fresh levies forwarded from the 
Confederate capital. 

Lee's present army was now about 68,000 
strong, of which close upon 10,000 consisted of 
cavalry and artillery. The whole force he 
divided anew into three corps, of three divisions 
each, viz., those under Longstreet, Ewell (who 
succeeded to the command of the late General 
Jackson's corps), and A. P. Hill ; while the caval- 
ry was commanded, as before, by General Stuart, 
and the artillery (composed of 200 guns) by Gen- 
eral Pendleton. On June 3rd, a month after the 
battle of Chancellorsville, the Northern movement 
began by the despatch of General Longstreet to 
Culpeper, followed by Ewell ; while Hill w^as for 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. I49 

the time left in front of Fredericksburg to keep 
watch on Hooker; and prevent any advance upon 
Richmond, as well as to conceal from Hooker 
Lee's departure. At Culpeper, on June 9th, Lee 
reports to his Government at Richmond that a 
portion of Hooker's army, including a large force 
of cavalry and artillery, had early that morning 
crossed the Rappahannock on a reconnaissance ex- 
pedition, after previously making a demonstration 
against Hill on the Rapidan. The object of the 
expedition, which crossed the river at Kelly's and 
Beverley's Fords, east of the Culpeper Court 
House, was manifestly to get on General Stuart's 
track, and if possible learn of the designs of his 
column in the region and of his later advance upon 
Brandy Station. At this time, Lee's advance 
northward had not fully transpired, and Stuart's 
object in being where he was was to mask from 
Hooker Lee's movement in the direction of Mary- 
land, and at the same time to guard the Southern 
army's flank in its march northward. 

From the two fords, came the Federal columns 
under Buford and Gregg, forcing back the Con- 
federate pickets, and deliveriDg a determined 
attack. This was at first resisted by the Southern 
brigade under General Jones, but on being heavily 
pressed Stuart sent back W. H. F. Lee, Wade 



150 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Hampton, and Kobertson, with their several 
brigades, to withstand the onslaught, which now 
developed into almost the proportions of a bat- 
tle, and lasted throughout the day. Finally, 
the Northerners were repulsed at all points and 
compelled to recross the river^ leaving in the 
Confederate hands, besides their dead on the field, 
about 500 prisoners, with three pieces of artillery 
and several regimental colors. In the day's en- 
counter near Brandy Station, said to have been 
one of the stiffest cavalry contests of the whole 
war, Lee's second son, Brigadier-General W. H. 
F. Lee, was wounded. Of this mishap to a 
member of his family, following soon after the 
death of a loved daughter, Anne, General Lee 
wrote to his wife two days afterwards (June 
11th) : *'My supplications continue to ascend for 
you, my children, and my country. When I last 
wrote I did not suppose that Fitzhugh (his son) 
would so soon be sent to the rear disabled, and I 
hope it will be but for a short time. I saw him 
the night after the battle — indeed, met him on 
the field as they were bringing him from the 
front. He is young and healthy, and I trust will 
soon be up again. He seemed to be more con- 
cerned about his brave men and officers who had 
fallen in the battle than about himself." 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 151 

On the following day (June 10th), Lee sent 
Ewell northward from Culpeper into the Shen- 
andoah Valley, with the design of reaching Win- 
chester, then held by 6,000 Federal troops under 
General Milroy, with a small force occupying 
Martinsburg. At Winchester, which the Federals 
had strongly fortified, Ewell directed Kodes's divi- 
sion to move upon Martinsburg, capture the Union 
garrison, and dispose of his force so as cut off the 
enemy's retreat in falling back from Winchester 
to the Potomac. Ewell then prepared to assault 
Milroy, having invested the town on the 13th, 
and having with him the divisions of Johnson 
and Early. The next day, the latter, after a 
furious cannonade, stormed Milroy 's defenses, 
carried them, and made prisoners of the greater 
part of the garrison. The remainder, with Milroy, 
fled from Winchester, during the night, but the 
majority of the Federal command fell into John- 
son's hands and were captured, though Milroy, 
with a small following, eluding the Southern 
leader, escaped to Harper's Ferry. Berry ville and 
Martinsburg were also surprised and their garri- 
son taken, while the Valley was throughout freed 
from the enemy. The spoils of the two days' 
hard-won victories included 4,000 prisoners cap- 
tured, 29 pieces of artillery, 2Y0 wagons and 



152 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ambulances taken^ and a mass of various stores. 
News of the mishap reached Hooker speedily at 
Fredericksburg and opened his eyes as to the 
character and design of Lee's operations in the 
North. He therefore gave his army orders to 
quit the Eappahannock and move in the direction 
of Manassas, meantime confining his attention to 
the Blue Eidge mountains and the Southern move- 
ment in that quarter, and taking care to keep his 
army between the line of the Confederate advance 
and Washington. When Hooker moved north- 
ward, Hill, in compliance with Lee's orders, took 
the road to the Shenandoah Valley, thence to 
Winchester ; while Ewell directed the steps of his 
command towards Pennsylvania, Lee following 
him at supporting distance. As the advance 
northward was made, Lee bore eastward in the 
direction of Washington, now in alarm over this 
new Confederate foray ; but Hooker by this time 
had come north and interposed a barrier between 
the capital and the Confederate columns, on the 
east side of the Bull Eun Eange. Lee was thus 
balked in making any demonstration against the 
Federal seat of government, though his presence 
in the region brought on a series of conflicts be- 
tween Stuart's command and the Union cavalry. 
Leaving Stuart to guard the passes of the Blue 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. I53 

Eidge, Lee pressed on with Longstreet's and 
Hill's corps to Ciiambersburg, Pa., already occu- 
pied by Ewell, who now advanced to Carlisle and 
York, and even threatened Harrisburg. At this 
juncture, Hooker now sought to move against 
Lee's rear with Slocum's command, and to do so 
effectively he asked permission from Halleck at 
Washington to take the garrison of Harper's 
Ferry (10,000 strong) to assist him in the oper- 
ation. This Halleck, however, refused to allow, 
and Hooker warmly remonstrated with the Com- 
mander-in-chief, telling him that, if he was not 
permitted to conduct the campaign in his own 
way, he preferred to resign the command of 
the Army of the Potomac. Thus matters were 
brought to a deadlock, the way out of which was 
speedily taken by relieving Hooker of his post 
and replacing him by Major-General Gr. G. Meade, 
of the Federal Fifth corps, who now took the chief 
command (June 28, 1863). 

Meade, though not an officer of great bril- 
liance, was an able and sagacious commander, 
and had seen a good deal of service. Though 
called upon suddenly to assume the chief Federal 
command, and knowing little of Hooker's plan 
of campaign, he at once set himself to rally and 
concentrate the scattered Union forces in Mary- 



15i LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

land and Pennsylvania, with the design of giving 
Lee battle and cutting off his retreat southward. 
Up to this time, Lee had accomplished not a little 
in gathering supplies in the enemy's country, 
and in spreading alarm throughout the North 
by his invasion of Pennsylvania. He was, how- 
ever, greatly handicapped by a lack of cavalry, 
especially for scouting purposes, and in enabling 
him to learn of the whereabouts and projected 
movements of the Federal army. He, neverthe- 
less, was aware that his rear communications 
were in serious danger, and the better to protect 
them and strengthen himself for anticipated 
attack, he directed Longstreet and Hill to move 
from Chambersburg to Gettysburg, while he re- 
called Ewell from York and Carlisle to the same 
rallying point. 

The great historic battle of Gettysburg was 
fought through its three entire days' course (July 
1-3, 1863) by detached masses of the two contend- 
ing armies, as they successively came upon the 
now renowned field, on which was at length 
grouped close upon 150,000 men, about equally 
divided between the Union and the Confederate 
forces. The town lies in the valley of the Cumber- 
land, in one of the southern counties of Penn- 
sylvania, 36 miles southwest of Harrisburg, the 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 155 

State capital. Through the valley run roads lead- 
ing to the different towns of the adjoining coun- 
ties, most of them centering in Gettysburg. To 
the west of the town is situate Seminary Ridge, 
three miles in length, on which stands a theolog- 
ical school ; while southward is a series of ridges 
and hills, intersected by ravines and gullies. 
'^The point of these hills farthest west is a lit- 
tle to the north of the general trend, and, with 
its connecting ridges, forms a curve or outward 
bend. Joining this curved part is a long line of 
hills, which end in two prominences, and finally 
in open country. The extreme western point of 
the curve is known as Gulp's Hill, the two prom- 
inences as Little and Big Round Top, and the 
long connecting ridge as Cemetery Hill, the local 
burial-ground. Between Little Round Top and 
Gemetery Hill, filling a gap in the long line, is a 
ridge, which stands out in the valley, and is 
known as Peach Orchard. Near Big Round Top 
is Devil's Den, a small knoll, and Rock Greek. 
These hills and ridges are wooded, and in some 
portions are very steep and rocky." 

The closing day of June found the Gonfederate 
forces pressing through Gashtown, on the road 
from Chambersburg to Gettysburg, Hill having 
sent the divisions of Heth and Pender on in 



156 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

advance to ascertain Meade's whereabouts. Stuart 
at this time, to whom the reconnaissance duty 
would doubtless have been assigned, was off at 
Carlisle, and, besides having Kilpatrick's squad- 
rons to fight, had Meade's army, for most of his 
return march, between him and Lee. Longstreet 
was still west of the South Mountain at Green- 
wood, with Pickett guarding the supply trains 
at Chambersburg. Of Swell's corps, Johnson's 
division was near Longstreet ; the divisions of 
Eodes and Early were in the vicinity of Heid- 
lersberg, though now on the way from the Sus- 
quehanna to Cashtown. Early in the morning 
of the 1st of July, Heth and Pender, of Hill's 
corps, on their approach to Gettysburg, found 
themselves confronted by Buford's command, 
with a strong Federal contingent, at Willoughby 
Eun, a force which the Confederates drove back, 
the noise of the firing bringing both Hill and 
Ewell on the field, when battle between the 
two armies was precipitated near McPherson's 
Ridge, on the Cashtown or Chambersburg road, 
just west of Gettysburg. To Buford's assistance, 
after the opening cavalry skirmish, came up the 
Federal First corps under Reynolds, and the 
Second corps under Howard. Reynolds posted 
his men along the Seminary Ridge, from which 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 157 

he saw the hot engagement between Heth and 
Buf ord, and at once rushed down the slope with 
his command to take part in it. In the action 
that ensued, and which for a time bore heavily 
against the Confederates, Eeynolds was himself 
unhappily slain ; while Pender, now taking part 
in the fray, was able to aid Heth in holding 
the First corps at bay. By noon, the Federal 
Eleventh corps came up, under Howard, who 
took command, now that Reynolds had fallen ; 
while Ewell appeared on the field from Heid- 
lersburg, and with Eodes, Early, and Hill, they 
together fell upon Howard's front and flank, and, 
by four o'clock in the afternoon, they forced his 
shattered brigades through Gettysburg back upon 
the Union batteries on Cemetery Hill. As Hill 
bore heavily down upon the retreating Federals, 
several thousands of them were taken prisoners, 
and other masses of them had fallen before the 
attack of cold steel. Lee at this juncture came 
up, and on looking over the scene he at once sent 
an order to Ewell to press on after the broken 
Federals and secure the hill, if possible. The 
elevation was found, however, practically unas- 
sailable, with the present Confederate force at 
Ewell's disposal, and the Federal guns now belch- 
ing from it. Ewell, therefore, wisely deferred 



;][58 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the assault, especially as new arrivals of Federal 
troops were coming into Gettysburg, including 
Hancock's and Slocum^s corps, which at once oc- 
cupied Gulp's Hill, as well as part of the Ceme- 
tery Ridge. The day's fighting ended amid Con- 
federate exultation, and with a conference of Lee 
and his generals as to the plan of attack on the 
morrow. The losses of the day on both sides 
were heavy. 

The early part of the second day's fighting at 
Gettysburg was occupied in placing in advantage- 
ous positions the contingents of both armies that 
had arrived during the night, with a redisposi- 
tion of part of those that had been engaged on the 
previous day. Of the arrivals on the Union side 
were the Second, Third, Fifth, and Twelfth corps, 
commanded respectively by Hancock, Sickles, 
Sykes, and Slocum ; while later on in the day 
came the Sixth corps, under Sedgwick. On the 
Confederate side, Stuart's cavalry corps had not 
yet arrived, nor did he reach the field until the 
afternoon of the following day. Longstreet, how- 
ever, had early joined Lee, though portions of his 
command, those under Hood, Kershaw, and Mc- 
Laws, had not as yet come up. Lee was anxious 
for their arrival, and for the coming of Anderson's 
division of Hill's corps, as he wished Longstreet to 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 159 

open the day's operations with an attack on the 
Federal lines along the Emmittsburg road. To 
this design of the Confederate commander-in- 
chief, Longstreet entered a protest, as the latter 
preferred to attack Meade first on the left. This 
lack of acquiescence lost Lee most part of the day, 
when it was important to attack the enemy before 
they had taken up their assigned positions and 
strengthened their lines of defense. Longstreet's 
attitude was naturally embarrassing to Lee, and 
the latter doubtless wished that morning to have 
had on the field his old war-horse, the redoubtable 
and eager Jackson, who, with his unshaken con- 
fidence in his chief and promptitude in obeying 
orders, would have readily thrown his command 
against the enemy, and more than probably have 
disastrously routed them, and so obviated the third 
day's fighting. As it turned out, the Confederate 
chances of success in the day's operations were 
lost by Longstreet's reluctance to attack as Lee 
had directed ; and ere long the result proved that 
Lee was right, for the Federal column (the Fifth 
Corps), on arriving and taking up ground, at once 
seized Little Round Top, the key of the day's 
position, and occupied it, reinforced later in the 
day, as the struggle around it and for its posses- 
sion developed. 



160 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

The conflict of opinion between the Confederate 
commander-in-chief and his senior general on the 
field produced for a time an unfortunate deadlock. 
It also delayed other action designed to have 
been simultaneously taken along other parts of 
the field, in conjunction with Longstreet's move- 
ment. Already, the divisions of McLaws and 
Hood were waiting to carry out the orders as- 
signed them ; Hill, opposite the enemy's center, 
was impatient to attack ; Ewell was eager to 
storm Gulp's Hill ; while Early, on the Confeder- 
ate left, had since two in the morning been ready 
for the word to scale Cemetery Hill from the 
direction of Grettysburg. Finally, by four o'clock 
in the afternoon, Longstreet, with his 12,000 men, 
got into position in front of and on the left of 
Sickles' command, the Federals being here ar- 
rayed in strong force behind stone walls and 
partly in the forest and among heavy boulders, 
the position bristling with artillery. Here, Long- 
street delivered a vigorous attack, " forcing the 
salient at the peach orchard, and driving in the 
successive regiments and brigades from the left 
toward the right of the Third corps, pushing 
them back across the wheat-field, gaining the 
Devil's Den, and threatening to take Little Eound 
Top." That the latter was not captured was ow- 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 161 

ing to the determined efforts of General Warren, 
of the Federal Engineer corps, who, seeing the 
importance of holding the eminence against 
Longstreet and Hood, brought up in the nick of 
time a battery of artillery and a brigade of infan- 
try, and repulsed the Confederate attack, though 
a hand-to-hand fight almost placed it in the 
latter's possession. Longstreet now turned upon 
Sickles' center and drove his command from the 
peach orchard, and with Hood's assistance pressed 
the Federals back upon their main position on 
Cemetery Eidge. Meanwhile, Hill attacked 
Sickles' right with Anderson's division, and 
pressed its corps-commander, Humphreys, from 
the field. Sickles himself falling in the fight. 
Later on in the evening, an attack was made on 
Cemetery Eidge, then stoutly held by Hancock, 
but this was repulsed after hard fighting. 
Simultaneously, Early, Ewell, and Johnson made 
determined attacks on the enemy's right center, 
on Cemetery Eidge and Gulp's Hill, assaults which 
were only partially successful, Ewell capturing 
part of the Federal breastworks on the extreme 
right, though in doing so he suffered terribly 
from the fire of the Federal artillery. The 
approach of night brought the day's dire con- 
flict to a close, though its gains were sufficiently 



162 LIFE OF GEKERAL LEE. 

encouraging to the Confederates to lead their 
heroic chieftain to determine to renew the battle 
on the morrow. The losses on both sides had 
meanwhile been frightful. 

The two days' battle, though it had been an 
aggressive and partly successful one to the 
Confederates, was by no means decisive. To both 
combatants, it had, moreover, been a sanguinary 
one, as the field, littered with dead, in all direc- 
tions showed. On the Federal right, part of the 
Union lines had been occupied over night by 
Johnson, of E well's command, and on the morn- 
ing of the 3rd it was designed by Lee to make 
the position won the basis of the new day's 
attack. In this, Lee was, however, checkmated 
by Meade, for by daybreak Johnson was heavily 
assaulted by the foe, and the position, after pro- 
tracted fighting, was retaken before Confederate 
reinforcements could be brought up to strengthen 
it. The Union lines were then re-formed. After 
the morning's discomfiture, Lee at once resolved 
to break the enemy's center, and with that object 
he first ordered his artillery, consisting of 140 guns 
on Seminary Ridge, to open fire on the Federal 
lines. This furious cannonade, which lasted for 
close upon two hours, was fitfully replied to by 
Meade's 80 cannon posted on Cemetery Hill, for 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 163 

his artillery was short of ammunition. After 
this cannoneers' combat — ^^the most terrible 
artillery-fire of the whole war " — there followed 
the gallant historic charge, which became the 
culminating feature of the three days' battle, that 
of the Virginian division, led by Major-General 
Pickett, 13,000 strong, supported by Heth's divis- 
ion of Hill's corps, under General Pettigrew, 
and protected on its exposed right flank by a 
brigade commanded by General Wilcox. The 
charge was made in three lines across the slopes 
of the valley intervening between the positions 
occupied by the opposing armies, its steady, mag- 
nificent advance, in the face of a murderous 
artillery and infantry cross-fire, being the admira- 
tion of friend and foe alike. 

For a time, Pickett's gallant line was shielded 
by the fire of the Confederate artillery ; but as it 
advanced towards the salient position occupied by 
Hancock, which Lee had given Pickett as the 
objective point, the protecting fire was silenced, 
so as not to harm the advancing lines. Now they 
were thrown by Pickett into echelon order and 
pushed on rapidly by their ardent leader, when 
the ranks were once more thinned by the mus- 
ketry fire of the foe, which was now directed upon 
them. In spite of this, the Virginians continued 



164 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

to advance against their assailants, and the 
struggle henceforth was one waged at close 
quarters, until the Confederates pierced the first 
Federal line and threw it back upon the second. 
Pickett's brigades now found themselves far in 
advance of their supports, and were met besides by 
a hail of grape-shot at close range, which leveled 
hundreds with the dust. The command still did 
not flinch, however, though hotly opposed by 
Gibbon's Federal defenders. Upon the Union lines 
the advance almost recklessly threw itself, only to 
be mowed down by the Federal fire, though, at 
this crisis, a few of the supporting regiments came 
up and united with Pickett's men, and both for a 
time made a determined stand — only to be anni- 
hilated. At this juncture, the charge, it was seen, 
was a forlorn hope, and what remained of it had 
no alternative but to face about and retreat, or 
submit to the shrunk-f rom choice of capture. Out 
of 4,800 men who had followed Pickett to the 
point of contact with the Federal line, but 1,200 es- 
caped ; while 3,600 fell before the murderous fire 
to which they had been exposed. Such was the 
tragic ending of a glorious and memorable deed 
of arms, and practically the close of the great 
battle of Gettysburg. 

Gettysburg, it has often been said, should have 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 165 

ended the war, together with the surrender of 
Vicksburg to Grant on July 4:th, the morrow of 
the last day's fighting between Meade's and Lee's 
forces on the bloody field of Gettysburg. But 
this was hardly to be expected when we consider 
the keen-edged temper of the Southern troops and 
their confidence in their great leader, not to speak 
of the losses that had been inflicted, in the three 
days' engagement, upon the Army of the Potomac, 
and in view of what the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia was yet capable of accomplishing in the 
Campaign of the Wilderness that ensued, where 
man for man the Confederates greatly out-fought 
the Northerners. The losses on both sides at 
Gettysburg were appalling, and what the battle 
had cost Meade — in a loss of 23,000 out of nearly 
90,000 of the Northern forces, against a ^' rebel " 
loss of 21,000 out of a total of 60,000 under Lee- 
showed the punishment that had been received, a 
punishment that restrained the northern general- 
in-chief from immediately renewing the fighting. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

LEE RETREATS TO VIRGINIA AND WINTERS BEHIND 
THE RAPIDAN. 

After Gettysburg, a period of inactivity en- 
sued, so far as actual strife between the forces of 
Lee and Meade is concerned, the latter hesitating 
to renew the attack upon Lee's command, or in 
any effective way to frustrate the withdrawal of 
the Army of Northern Virginia to the Potomac. 
The inactivity is partly explained by the wet 
season that had come on and made the roads 
through the South Mountain range well-nigh 
impassable ; and partly owing to Meade's caution 
in not desiring to come so soon again to close 
quarters with the Confederate forces, even in their 
retreat to Virginia. The lull and the avoidance 
of continued fighting enabled the Southern com- 
mander-in-chief to withdraw his army through 
Cashton and by the Fairfield road, via the Cum- 
berland Valley, to the crossings of the Potomac. 
High water at the latter river delayed his crossing 

for a week, and made Lee anxious for the safety 

166 



LEE RETREATS TO VIRGINIA. 167 

of his command as well as for its maintenance, as 
camp supplies were again getting short and am- 
munition was also now low ; while it was known 
that the Federals, who had moved up from Fred- 
erick, Md., were at last close upon them, though 
still halting in the determination to deliver an 
attack, which had been ordered by the War 
authorities at Washington. A crossing was at 
length made by the 13th of July at Williamsport, 
and at Falling Waters, the ever- vigilant Stuart, 
by maneuvering in rear of the retreat, concealing 
from Meade the withdrawal of the Confederate 
forces to the Virginia side of the river. That Lee 
had expected an attack by Meade at the Potomac, 
or a check by him in conveying his army across 
the river, is manifest by the General Order issued 
by him to his soldiers at Hagerstown (his head- 
quarters before crossing the Potomac) on the 11th 
of July (1863). In that spirited Address, General 
Lee says : ^* After the long and trying marches, 
endured with the fortitude that has ever char- 
acterized the soldiers of the Army of Northern 
Yirginia, you have penetrated to the country of 
our enemies, and recalled to the defense of their 
own soil those who were engaged in the invasion 
of ours. You have fought a fierce and san- 
guinary battle, which, if not attended with the 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

success that has hitherto crowned your efforts, 
was marked by the same heroic spirit that has 
commanded the respect of your enemies, the 
gratitude of your country, and the admiration of 
mankind. 

*^Once more you are called upon to meet the 
enemy, from whom you have won on so many 
fields a name that will never die. Once more 
the eyes of your countrymen are turned upon 
you, and again do wives and sisters, fathers and 
mothers, and helpless children lean for defense on 
your strong arms and brave hearts. Let every 
soldier remember that on his courage and fidelity 
depends all that makes life worth having, the 
freedom of his country, the honor of his people, 
and the security of his home. Let each heart 
grow strong in the remembrance of our glorious 
past, and in the thought of the inestimable bless- 
ings for which we contend ; and, invoking the 
assistance of that Heavenly Power which has 
so signally blessed our former efforts, let us go 
forth in confidence to secure the peace and safety 
of our country. Soldiers, your old enemy is 
before you. Win from him honor worthy of 
your right cause, and worthy of your comrades, 
dead on so many illustrious fields. 

E. E. Lee, General Commanding, "^^ 



LEE RETREATS TO VIRGINIA. 169 

The anticipated Federal attack was not, how- 
ever, realized, though Meade made a show of 
following Lee by crossing the Potomac and ad- 
vancing east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with 
the design of pursuing the Confederates, who 
by this time, had reached Culpeper, and from 
there had taken up a strong defensive position on- 
the south bank of the Eapidan River, Lee having 
his headquarters at Oran ge Court House. Meade, 
meanwhile, brought up his command to Culpeper 
Court House, where he established himself for 
the winter, having the Rapidan between him and 
Lee. From these several positions tentative 
movements were made by both sides during the 
early winter months, but, if we except a demon- 
stration in the region of the Mine Run, nothing 
of importance came of them. Here both oppos- 
ing armies were considerably depleted, by having 
to send parts of their respective forces to other 
and distant sections of the country, where serious 
conflicts were then occurring. Meade's strength 
was reduced by the despatch from it of a large 
portion of his army to South Carolina, to take 
part in the long siege of Charleston, stubbornly 
held by the Confederates ; while another con- 
tingent was sent to New York city to assist in 
suppressing the Draft riots, there being at the 



170 LIFE OF GENBRAL LEE. 

time much difficulty in recruiting in the North. 
Lee's force was about the same period reduced 
by Pickett's brigade being despatched to Peters- 
burg, where, in the following summer, ^Hhe last 
citadel of the Confederacy," under Beauregard, 
gallantly withstood the assaults of General Grant 
and a long further siege until April, 1865, when 
its stout defenders were withdrawn, just before 
the surrender at Appomattox. Lee's army was 
further depleted by the despatch of General Long- 
street with two divisions to General Bragg's as- 
sistance in holding Tennessee against Rosecrans. 
There he took active and memorable part in the 
battle of Chickamauga (September 19-20, 1863), 
in which the Federals were routed and driven from 
the field, and Rosecrans' army was saved from 
annihilation only by the strenuous efforts and 
gallantry of General Thomas. Of Longs treet's 
part in the direful battle, which proved so dis- 
astrous to the Federals, Lee, on September 25, 
wrote thus to his old general, Longstreet : 

'' My whole heart and soul have been with you 
and your brave corps in your late battle (of 
Chickamauga). It was natural to hear of Long- 
street and Hill (D. H.) charging side by side, and 
pleasing to find the armies of the East and West 
vying with each other in valor and devotion to 



LEE RETREATS TO VIRGINIA. l7l 

their country. . . . Finish the work before you, 
my dear General, and return to me. I want you 
badly, and you cannot get back too soon." 

Chickamauga was consecutively followed by 
the battle of Chattanooga (Nov. 25) ; but in this 
famous ^^ battle above the clouds," fought on 
Lookout Mountain and on Missionary Eidge, 
Bragg was badly worsted, in spite of the strong 
natural positions he occupied. This was in the 
main due to the good generalship of General 
Grant, who had now come into the region, and 
had under him, as able lieutenants. Generals 
Hooker, Thomas, and Sherman ; while Bragg was 
at a disadvantage in not having Longstreet with 
him, the latter having been assigned the task of 
besieging Knoxville, then in command of Burn- 
side. The Federal victory at Chattanooga was 
gained at a loss of between 5,000 and 6,000 men ; 
though about as many Confederates were captured 
on the field, besides 40 pieces of artillery and 
7,000 stand of Southern small-arms. 

Matters by this time were going ill for the South, 
especially in the West. After the rout at Chat- 
tanooga of Bragg, the latter was removed from 
his command, and Joseph E. Johnston was for a 
while put in his place. Meanwhile, Lee, with his 
veterans, was putting in a wretched winter on 



172 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the Eapidan, his army being badly fed and as 
badly clad, naany of them being without shoes, 
and without suitable accommodation in the way of 
shelter. Much of his cavalry, moreover, had to 
be dispersed, in search of forage for the horses ; 
while the General-in-chief's wife and daughter, 
and others of his personal family, had to be 
depended upon for socks for his barefooted men, 
and for blankets to cover them in the bitterly 
cold nights in camp. To add to his anxieties at 
this time, General Lee had to give paternal 
thought to his second son, W. H. F. Lee, who in 
the summer of 1863 had been wounded in battle 
at Brandy Station, was captured, and held a close 
prisoner of war by the Federals. While captive 
in the North, his wife and child, moreover, died, 
thus adding to General Lee's solicitude and grief. 
At the period when these troubles were upon him, 
the Commander-in-chief was himself untiring in 
his attentions to the men under him, caring as 
far as he could for their material wants and com- 
fort, his own table being often as indifferently 
isupplied as were those of the lowest rank of his 
command. His ordinary dinner, we are told, was 
at this trying time nothing more bountiful or 
appetizing than a liead of cabbage boiled in salt 
water, with a pone of corn bread — meat being 



LEE RETREATS TO VIRGINIA. 1^3 

eaten not oftener than twice a week. His 
tlioughtfulness at this junctureled him to permit 
many of his men to go home on furlough for 
thirty days, to such at least as were able to supply 
temporarily an able-bodied substitute-recruit, of 
good moral character. To both sides, in the long- 
continued strife, recruiting was an irksome and 
difficult business ; even in the North it was that, 
in spite of the inducements of large bounties, 
which it could well afford. To the South, on the 
other hand, it had become almost impossible now 
to strengthen the Confederate armies in the field, 
though Lee was urgent in his call for more men, 
and especially for additions to his cavalry equip- 
ment, in view of the opening of a new season and 
the operations which it would bring with it. 
With the Spring of 1864, the Federal force under 
Meade and Burnside on the Eappahannock reached 
a strength of 145,000 men ; while it had now for 
its chief command and leader General Ulysses S. 
Grant, who was given the supreme rank of lieu- 
tenant-general of the United States army. 
Against this large Union force, the Army of 
Northern Virginia, as it prepared for a renewal of 
hostilities, was under 62,000 men of all ranks ; 
what it lacked in numbers it, however, made 
good, under the inspiring leadership of Lee, in 



171 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

elan and morale. Included in the total force of 
the Southern troops on the Kapidan was Long- 
street's command, now returned from Tennessee, 
though Pickett's division was still in North 
Carolina. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 

The region of the conflict between North and 
South, in the Spring of 1864, which has passed 
into history as that of the Wilderness Campaign, 
is the locality in Virginia south of the Eapidan, 
thickly set with scrub oak and dense pine, grow- 
ing on a soil composed of sand and clay unsuited to 
agriculture, interspersed with swamps and dense 
underbrush unfavorable to military operations. 
The section of country was more or less known to 
the Confederates, as here, a year or so earlier, 
Lee had greatly harassed Hooker and subjected 
him to defeat. Included in the actions in the 
Wilderness are those that followed the battles in 
the desolate region, viz., those around Spottsyl- 
vania and on the banks of the North Anna, with the 
second battle of Cold Harbor — a month of fighting 
that brought its pitiful tale of loss to both combat- 
ants, but especially to the Federal troops, whose 
casualties alone amounted to over 50,000, in 
killed, wounded, and missing. To Grant, with 

175 



176 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

his known resolute character, doggedness, and 
military capacity of holding on and wearing 
down his opponent's force by mere attrition, was, 
as we have seen, given supreme command of the 
Army of the Potomac. On his reaching Meade 
and reorganizing the latter's army, Grant's design 
was to cross the Rapidan and move upon the 
Confederates at the earliest moment, his objective 
point being the ''rebel" capital, together with 
the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
Besides General Meade, and General Burnside, 
whose separate command, which had just been 
organized at Annapolis, was now added to the 
strength of the Army of the Potomac, Grant had 
at his disposal the services of other general 
officers of tried ability — Hancock, Warren, and 
Sedgwick, with Sheridan in command of the 
Federal cavalry. Other contemporary move- 
ments included the despatch of a column under 
Major-General Ben. Butler, to ascend the James 
River and cut the Confederate communications 
with Richmond, and, if possible, capture Peters- 
burg. Other simultaneous movements were 
those under Generals Sigel and Crooks, to operate 
in the Kenawha and Shenandoah valleys, destroy 
the Central Railroad and the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee R. R., and prevent rebel supplies from 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 177 

reaching Lee and his army from the region 
round Southern Virginia. Unity of action, in 
this common scheme for the overthrow of the 
South, included the despatch of General W. T. 
Sherman (who had been in command of the 
Military Division of the Mississippi), on his 
renowned March through Georgia, where he had 
General J. E. Johnston and J. B. Hood success- 
ively to contend against, and where he won the 
battles of Dalton, Resaca, Kenesaw Moimtain, 
occupied Atlanta, and then set out on his famous 
^^ march to the sea." 

By this time the two great captains of the 
North and South were to manifest their strategi- 
cal skill and test the mettle of their respective 
commands in the Wilderness labyrinths. The 
movement began, on May 4th (1864), by Grant 
throwing his right wing across the Eapidan, 
where Lee's army was on the alert to receive him, 
and where its chief was eager to draw him into 
the heart of the Wilderness, and there seek to 
bring on a general engagement. In this, Lee 
succeeded but too well, as Grant was soon to learn, 
when he found himself enmeshed in Nature's 
entanglements in the region. Moving his left 
wing forward on the road towards Chancellors- 
ville, Grant now sought to flank Lee, and, by 



178 LIFE OP GENERAL LEE. 

gaining Gordonsville, to fall upon the Southern 
rear. For the incidents of the fighting that 
ensued in the Wilderness thickets, we cannot do 
better, for the reader's information, than draw 
upon the intelligent narrative furnished in the 
Werner Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Bri- 
tannica " (See Vol. V., pp. 551-2, which we have 
the Publisher's kind permission to quote). There, 
the writer of the article on The Wilderness Cam- 
paign " remarks that : 

*' Lee was fully aware of the advantages of the Wilderness 
for defensive operations, and resolved, if possible, to bring on 
a general engagement in the midst of the thicket. Two lines 
of advance running nearly due east and west, and parallel to 
each other, were open to Lee, and along these roads, on the 
morning of the 5th (of May) , he promptly advanced, Ewell's 
division taking the turnpike (or northerly) road, while Hill's 
division advanced along the plank-road (the southerly thor- 
oughfare). Longstreet's division was, during the first day's 
battle, left at Gordonsville to cover Lee's rear, and did not 
come up in time to take part in the first of the fighting. 
Burnside's command in the Northern army was also too late 
in arriving to take part in the first day's fighting, he having 
been left on the Rappahannock to cover the rear of the Federal 
army. When the Union forces first struck the Confederates, 
they supposed it to be merely a rear-guard which they had 
encountered, and that the army of Lee was in retreat. But 
they were soon convinced that they had made a mistake, 
and in a few moments the fighting was sharp and results 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 179 

bloody. The attack was begun by the advance of Ayres's and 
Bartlett's brigades, which were sent to the right and left of 
the turnpike road to disperse whatever force might be found 
there. The Confederates were driven back ; but the situation 
was soon changed by the quick advance of Stuart's cavalry 
brigade of Confederates, and shortly afterward by the arrival 
of Rhodes's division, and their attack on the Federal troops. 

" The effort to support Ayres and Bartlett proved abortive, 
as the thickets were so dense that before aid could arrive 
they had been driven back in confusion. On the whole, the 
fighting at this point was very disastrous for the Federals, 
McCandless's brigade alone losing two full regiments in its 
effort to escape from its entangled position on the right of 
the Federal advance column. So far, the Union army had 
lost three thousand men, besides several guns, while the Con- 
federates retained possession of the contested ground. A 
little after one o'clock the Sixth corps, which had been sent 
to the aid of the Fifth, was struck by Ewell. The Confeder- 
ates were at first repulsed, but a terrific charge by Rhodes's 
men drove the Federals back, the Confederates being after- 
ward, in turn, forced back. When the fight for the day was 
over, the Union troops were in possession of the disputed 
ground. Meantime, General Grant had the conviction car- 
ried home to him that General Lee meant to fight him in this 
tangle of thickets, and he now began to make his preparations 
for such a contingency. He ordered Hancock to the assist- 
ance of Getty, who was holding the junction of the Brock 
road, which runs at right angles with the turnpike. Soon 
after Hancock arrived here he was ordered to attack and 
drive back Hill, but this he failed to do, the men fighting at 
close quarters, and at night each army drinking from the 
same " branch," or brooklet, so close were their positions to 



180 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

each other. This ended the first day's fighting in the Wilder- 



'* Early the next day the fighting was resumed, Lee com- 
mencing the attack at about 4:30 a.m. In the meantime, 
Burnside and Longstreet had come up to their respective 
armies, and the lines of battle of both were now fully formed. 
Grant's line extended over a frontage of five and a half miles — 
from Todd's tavern to German ia Ford, Sedgwick occupying 
the right, to the left of Sedgwick, in regular succession, being 
Warren, Burnside, and Hancock. Lee's army was disposed as 
it was on the preceding day, with the exception that it was 
now in three sections, Ewell being on the left. Hill in the 
center, and Longstreet on the right. Lee began his assault 
by attacking Sedgwick, but the Confederates were easily re- 
pulsed, and Warren and Hancock made an attack on Hill. 
For a time the troops of Hill gave way, but at the critical 
moment Anderson's brigade of Hill's division was thrown 
forward, and Longstreet's troops suddenly coming to the sup- 
port of Hill's shattered lines, the tide of battle was turned 
and Hancock was driven back. At the most critical juncture 
in the fight. General Longstreet was seriously wounded by 
his own men, and the loss of time occasioned by the change 
of officers necessary after this occurrence was fatal to the 
Confederate success. Before General Lee himself could reach 
the scene and restore order, the Federals had regained all 
they had lost by the attack which Longstreet had made. At 
four o'clock, Lee, in person, led Hill's and Longstreet's men 
to an assault against the enemy, and for a time the Union 
left was in extreme danger. But a prompt and desperate 
charge made by Colonel Hoffmann, according to Hancock, 
was the turning-point of the engagement, and saved the left 
wing from entire destruction. To add to the horror of the 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 181 

situation, the woods were afire from the burning powder of 
the guns, and many dead and wounded were consumed by 
the flames. Nightfall did not cause the fighting to cease, for 
just at sunset General Lee sent forward a heavy column, led 
by General Gordon, against the right wing of the Federal 
army, and threw it into the greatest confusion. Federal re- 
inforcements were hurried up, however, and the total dark- 
ness of the night put an end to the fighting of the second day, 
in which, it was estimated, the Federals had lost at least fif- 
teen thousand men, and the Confederates about ten thousand. 
The total losses for the two days were about twenty thousand 
and thirteen thousand, respectively. 

'* On the morning of May 7th it was apparent that General 
Lee had determined to assume the defensive and let Grant 
attack him. This Grant at once began by attempting a fiank 
movement, his objective point being Spottsylvania Court 
House, 13 miles away. The column of the Federal advance 
along the Brock road was led by Warren's division, and after 
considerable delay, occasioned by its own cavalry, which ob- 
structed the road, the Federal advance reached a point two 
or three miles from the Court House. No serious fighting had 
taken place, and the Federal commanders were elated with 
the idea that Lee had probably been unaware of the attempt 
made to turn his flank ; but they were again to be undeceived 
in a terrible manner. No sooner had the head of the Federal 
column arrived at the point indicated above than they were 
met by a terrific fire and forced back, each successive com- 
mand, as it came up, sharing the same fate. The attempt to 
turn Lee's flank had failed, and Grant ordered his army to 
strengthen its position by entrenchments. All of this and 
the following day was spent in maneuvers, on both sides, for 
positions, Lee always barring any southward movement on 



j^g2 ^FE OP GENERAL LEE. 

the part of Grant by throwing his men across the line of 
march. At last, on the 10th, Grant attacked, and the battle 
of Spottsylvania Court House took place, after which Grant 
and Lee began their famous movement to reach Richmond, 
the one to obtain possession of the Confederate capital, the 
other to defend it. Lee was successful, and when Grant 
arrived at Hanover Junction, on May 23d, he found Lee's army 
between him and Richmond, in a strong position, already en- 
trenched. The position of Lee's army was impregnable. 
Grant knew it would be madness to attempt to turn his posi- 
tion, so after a little desultory skirmishing the same tactics 
as before were resorted to. Grant withdrawing his forces on 
the 26th and again attempting to flank Lee. Lee followed 
Grant's movements closely, at every turn interposing his army 
between the Federals and the Confederate capital. Several 
stands were made by both armies, but on no occasion was a 
pitched battle fought, until the old battlefields of McClellan's 
campaign of two years before were reached. Here the Wil- 
derness Campaign proper ends, as the battle of Cold Harbor 
has been placed by war-historians in another category. Soon 
after this battle, the Federal army, having described a semi- 
circular path around the city of Richmond, was transferred 
to the south bank of the James River, and the siege of Peters- 
burg, the final act of the great drama, was begun. 

" No characteristics of the Wilderness stand out with greater 
prominence than do the heroism and determination exhibited 
by both armies. Never before had Lee's ability as a tactician 
and strategist had greater demands made upon it, and never 
before had those demands met with a fuller response. An 
impartial judge would find it hard to award the palm for 
superiority to either army. On the one hand, the Federal 
army was at a disadvantage on account of the intricate nature 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 183 

of the country, and on the other, the Confederate forces were 
largely outnumbered. But, despite all advantages or disad- 
vantages, no men in any circumstances could have done better 
than did both armies, and the claims of both Lee and Grant 
to greatness, even had they no other foundation, would find 
a solid basis in the conduct, by each, of this one campaign. 
On the battlefields several soldiers' cemeteries have been 
established, but thousands were unburied, and lay undis- 
turbed amidst the thicket that once gave back the din of 
conflict and flamed in lurid brightness with the fire of battle." 

After the battles in the Wilderness, Grant, sick 
of fighting in the tangled forest and of the de- 
fensive contest he was obliged there to maintain, 
ordered Meade to despatch Warren, by a night- 
march, towards Spottsylvania Court House, with 
the view of cutting off Lee from his communica- 
tions with the Confederate capital, and with some 
idea of forming a junction with Butler on the 
Jardes Eiver. Ever watchful of his adversary, 
the Southern leader cleverly anticipated the new 
Federal movement, and ordered the corps of Ewell 
and Anderson to proceed thither (to the Court 
House) by the shortest route. In this, the Con- 
federates won the race for position on the Spott- 
sylvania Eidge, heading off Warren's command 
by a more rapid night-march and a better knowl- 
edge of the countr3\ At sunrise, on the morning 
of May 8th, Anderson managed to throw up hasty 



184: LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

entrenchments on the Eidge and formed a line of 
hattle ready to be hurled upon Warren and the 
advance corps of Grant's army, at this time 
ignorant of their being forestalled by the Con- 
federates, save, as it was thought, by some dis- 
mounted men of Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry. Gen- 
eral Warren, on arriving at the Ridge and pushing 
on his advance to secure the position, was met 
with an unexpected and withering Confederate 
fire, which threw his command into confusion ; 
but, on bringing up the remainder of his corps, 
he renewed the attack, only to be met, however, 
by a severe repulse. During the night the Con- 
federate commands of Early and Ewell came 
upon the scene, together with General Lee, and 
the position taken up by Warren on the previous 
day was strengthened against the expected re- 
newed attack on the morrow. The 9th of May 
brought t]ie whole of Grant's army to the Court 
House, when a general assault of the Confederate 
lines was ordered, Warren, Sedgwick, Hancock, 
and Burnside taking part in the attack. In the 
melee that ensued, the Federals lost heavily, 
though they fought gallantly, delivering during 
the day no less than twelve assaults. 

The day of the 11th was spent by the Federals in 
getting ready for an elaborate attack on the 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 185 

right center of the Southern line, that part of the 
Confederate position being deemed by General 
Grant the weakest, as it proved. On the follow- 
ing day, the assault was fiercely launched, Han- 
cock massing his men there chiefly against the 
command of General Edward Johnson of Ewell's 
division. After a desperate resistance by the 
latter, his command was overpowered, and the 
Confederate defense line was cut in two, while 
3,000 of Johnson's men, including the General 
himself, were taken prisoners by Hancock. The 
consequence of this was to force Lee to withdraw 
to interior lines, after a vain attempt had been 
made to recapture the position that Johnson had 
lost. The enemy were unable, however, to pene- 
trate further the Southern position or break Lee's 
lines at other points. It was then that Grant, in 
his wonted dogged way, wrote to the War author- 
ities at Washington : ^^ I propose to fight it out 
on this line, if it takes all summer " — a threat, 
however, which, as we shall presently see, was 
not enforced. From the 14th to the 18th (of May) 
desultory fighting went on ; though two deter- 
mined assaults on the Southern lines were de- 
livered by the Federals, which Lee was able to 
repulse, with heavy losses to the Union troops. 
On the 19th Lee discerned signs of the Federals 



1S6 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

giving up the attempt to carry his position and of 
moving off, possibly with the design of marching 
directly upon Eichmond. This, however, was not 
Grant's immediate purpose ; his motive clearly 
was to draw Lee from his strong position, which 
he found he could not hope to take, in spite of his 
announced purpose ^Ho hold on all summer." 
Presently Grant's design, in abandoning the re- 
gion of the Spottsylvania Court House, was to 
take up a position on the North Anna Eiver, one 
of the head streams of the Pamunkey, so as to 
get round the Confederate right, but really to 
disengage Lee from a position which Grant 
had spent twelve days in finding to be unas- 
sailable. 

No sooner was this Federal movement noted by 
Lee than he sought to interfere with it. This he 
did, first, by inflicting, through the agency of 
Swell's corps, a heavy blow upon the retiring 
Federals, which delayed its movements from the 
19th to the 21st of May, and then by ordering an 
advance of his own men, by a shorter route than 
that taken by Grant, to the south bank of the 
North Anna. This accomplished, he once more 
surprised his adversary by revealing the Con- 
federates in mass confronting him. When Grant 
reached the river, he at once threw Warren and 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 187 

Hancock's commands across it to grapple again 
with the foe. Only Hancock's corps was opposed 
by Lee in crossing the stream ; after which the 
Southern leader astutely thrust his center be- 
tween the two wings of Grant's army and put 
the Federals at enormous disadvantage. Being 
thus handicapped, the Federal commander, after 
a reconnaissance which showed the hopelessness 
of renewed fighting in the region, recrossed the 
North Anna, contenting himself with the small 
game of destroying some miles of the Virginia 
Central railroad. After this, he set out with his 
entire army, and, after making a wide detour 
eastward, he advanced southward along the Pam- 
unkey in the direction of the York Eiver and 
the waterway into Chesapeake Bay. This new 
movement, which was effected towards the close 
of May, brought Grant into water-communication 
with the sea ; while Lee met it by retiring south 
with his army toward Eichmond, and took up a 
strong position in front of the Chickahominy, 
the Federal forcing of which river would, as Lee 
felt sure, bring on a great battle. 

A sore struggle, indeed, here ensued, that 
which precipitated the bloody battle of Cold 
Harbor, near the site of that of Gaines' Mill, 
which had been fought two years before. The 



188 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

operations in the region began on May 31 by a 
preliminary conflict between Sheridan's cavalry 
corps and that of Fitzhugh Lee. The army of 
the Potomac coming up on the following day, 
the Federals proceeded to entrench themselves 
temporarily behind some slight earthworks, from 
which, on the 3rd of June, they advanced to the 
attack. Lee's success in preparing for the as- 
sault was instantly apparent in the hot repulse 
the Federals met with, the attacking columns 
being met with so disastrous a fire that hardly 
an)'' life could live before it. So dire was the 
Confederate fire that seven colonels of Hancock's 
attacking columns fell mortally wounded. The 
battle was no sooner begun than it was ended ; 
the losses to the Federals resulting from all 
casualties in the engagements of the 1st and 3rd 
of June reaching, it is chronicled, close upon 
10,000 ! So incredible seems the havoc in the 
Unionist ranks in these two days' fighting, that 
we deem it proper to vouch for the figures from 
an authoritative source — that given in A. A. Hum- 
phreys' narrative of ^^The Virginia Campaign 
of 1864-65," where that writer affirms that ^* ac- 
cording to the report of the Medical Director, 
Surgeon McParlin, the wounded brought to the 
hospitals from the battle of the 3rd of June num- 



THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. 180 

bered 4,517. The dead were at least 1,100. The 
wounded brought to the hospitals from the 
battle of the 1st of June were 2,125 ; the killed 
were not less than 500. The wounded on the 1st 
and 3rd of June were, therefore, 6,642, and the 
killed not less than 1,600 ; but, adopting the 
number of killed and missing furnished General 
Badeau from the Adjutant-General's office, 1,769 
killed, 1,537 missing (many — most, indeed — of 
them, no doubt, killed) we have 8,411 for the 
killed and wounded, and for the total casualties, 
9,948." The Southern losses, it may be added, 
were, on the other hand, not more than 1,600. 
From this it will be seen how severely Grant had 
been beaten at Cold Harbor — a beating which he 
so far scrupled at the time to admit that he 
hesitated for a while to send a flag of truce to 
General Lee, asking permission to rescue his 
wounded from the battlefield and bury his dead. 
The battle closed with the Confederates in full 
possession of their position and defenses ; while 
Grant withdrew his army from the field, and, 
crossing the James, proceeded to lay siege to 
Petersburg. Thus ended, practically in failure to 
Grant's designs, the Wilderness Campaign, with 
the contests that grew out of, or followed upon 
it. The ambition which led the Federal lieu- 



190 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

tenant-general so boastfully to engage in it, cost 
the North a loss bordering upon 60,000 men ! " 

Before passing to another chapter, it will, 
perhaps, seem proper here to answer a question 
which the readers may probably have asked him- 
self, '^What, meanwhile, had become of Lee's 
invaluable cavalry officer, General J. E. B. 
Stuart ? " The answer, unhappily, is a brief one, 
viz., that he lost his gallant life in an engagement 
on the 11th of May (1864), near Eichmond, when 
repelling a raid upon the Confederate capital by 
General Sheridan, who had been detached upon 
that mission by General Grant after the opening 
battles in the Wilderness. His loss was a severe 
one to the Confederacy, as he ranked foremost 
among the Cavalry generals of the Civil War.* 

*0n May 20th, General Lee, in announcing to his army the 
death of Major-General Stuart, paid the following high tribute 
to his memory : " Among the gallant soldiers who have fallen 
in the war, General Stuart was second to none in valor, in 
zeal, and in unflinching devotion to his country. His achieve- 
ments form a conspicuous part of the history of this army, 
with which his name and services will be forever associated. 
To military capacity of a high order, and to the nobler virtues 
of the soldier, he added the brighter graces of a pure life, 
guided and sustained by the Christian's faith and hope. . . . 
His grateful countrymen will mourn his loss and cherish his 
memory. To his comrades-in-arms he has left the proud 
recollections of his deeds and the inspiring influence of his 
example." 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

OPERATIONS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE JAMES 
RIVER AND THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 

Baulked in his endeavor to reach Eichmond 
from the North, Grant sought now, as we have 
related, to reach it by abandoning the Hne of the 
Chickahominy, crossing the James, and, with the 
assistance of Butler, now at Petersburg, to attempt 
the movement from the south. This resolution of 
Grant's was put in action on the night of the 12th 
of June, when the Federal leader proceeded, by 
way of White House and Wilcox's Landing, across 
the James ; and by the 16th of the month the 
Federal hosts were massed at Petersburg, the 
'' backdoor of Eichmond," which was held by 
General Beauregard. The same day (June 16) 
found part of Lee's army, now numbering only 
30,000 men, south of the James, the divisions of 
Pickett and Field being almost at once engaged 
in an attack upon Butler, assisted by the forces 
under Beauregard. 

While these new dispositions in the armies of 
191 



192 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Grant and Lee were being made, the Federal 
general, Hunter, was engaged in the task Gen- 
eral Sigel had been occupied with, of raiding and 
burning in the Valley of the Virginia, destroying 
the railroad tracks and bridges, and committing 
many outrages in the region, including the de- 
vastating and burning of homesteads. By the 
16th of June, Hunter had set himself the task of 
attacking the town of Lynchburg, then held by a 
small local force of Confederates, supplemented 
by the command of General Breckenridge. News 
of this reaching Lee, the latter detached Early 
from his army with 10,000 men to bring Hunter's 
wild career to a close ; this had the desired effect, 
for on Early's reaching Lynchburg, which had 
already repulsed the Federal attack, he found 
Hunter and his command in full retreat from the 
place, passing out of the region through Western 
Virginia. All that Early had for his pains, was 
to get upon the rear of Hunter's retreating force, 
when he captured a number of prisoners, besides 
the prize of thirteen pieces of artillery. 

From the middle of June, 186^, to April 3rd, 
1865, Grant's operations before Petersburg con- 
tinued with varying but wearying fortunes. The 
operations, the while, had little of the character 
of a siege ; nor, save for the protection of the 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 193 

Confederate capital, whose fortunes were linked 
with those of Petersburg, was it worth Lee's 
while to fritter away the strength and patience 
of his army, for nearly nine months, in front of 
the city. But while the Army of the James re- 
mained there, there, necessarily, must Lee and 
his veterans remain also. Had events gone more 
favorably for the South in other sections of the 
country, Lee's detention so long at Petersburg 
would not have greatly mattered ; but the turn 
of the tide elsewhere, adverse to the Confederacy, 
and the great and increasing preponderance in the 
numbers of the Federal armies, were Lee's, and the 
South's, undoing. All our hero could do was but 
to bend his head, as he ever did, to the will of 
Heaven, in ordering events otherwise, even to the 
blasting of Southern hopes. 

Shortly after settling down to the protracted 
investment of Petersburg, Grant ordered elaborate 
assaults upon the place, though results were not as 
he anticipated ; nor did they compensate for the 
frightful slaughter they occasioned. All that was 
practically gained from them, or, at least, from 
those of the 15th, 16th, and lYth of June, was the 
carrying of portions of the Confederate exterior 
lines, which did not effect any more important 
purpose than to add to the area of the Federal 



194 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

entrenchments. It is on record that Grant's losses 
in these assaults did not fall much short of 10,000 
men ; while the Confederate casualties were not 
a third of that number. Up to this time, when 
the siege operations proper are claimed to 
have been begun, there had been little accom- 
plished by the Union army beyond the four day 
assaults (June 15-18), if we exclude the general 
raiding in the neighborhood, with the design of 
destroying the Weldon railroad, which connects 
Petersburg with the Confederate capital. Even 
in that operation and other general skirmishing 
in the vicinity, success did not altogether lie with 
the North. This we may see from the two sub- 
joined reports of General Lee to the Confederate 
Secretary of War at Eichmond, under the dates, 
respectively, of June 22nd and 29th (1864). On 
the first of these dates, Lee writes : 

'^ Since Friday last there has been skirmishing 
along the lines in front of Bermuda Hundreds and 
around Petersburg. The Federal army appears 
to be concentrated at these two places, and is 
strongly entrenched. 

"■ Yesterday, a movement of infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery, was made towards the right of our 
forces and Petersburg, in the direction of the 
Weldon railroad. The enemy was driven back, 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 195 

and his infantry is reported to have halted. His 
cavahy have continued to advance upon the road 
by a route further removed from our position. 

''The enemy's infantr}^ was attacked this 
afternoon, on the west side of the Jerusalem 
plank road, and driven from his first line of works 
to his second on that road, by General Mahone, 
with a part of his division. About 1,600 pris- 
oners, 4 pieces of artillery, 8 stands of colors, and 
a large stand of small-arms were captured." 

Under date of June 29th, the Confederate 
commander-in-chief reports to Eichmond : 

''General Hampton states that he attacked the 
enemy's cavalry yesterday afternoon on their 
return from Staunton Eiver bridge, this side of 
Sappony Church, and drove them beyond that 
point. The fight continued during the night, 
and at daylight this morning he turned their left 
and routed them. When they reached Eeame's 
Station they were confronted by a portion of 
Mahone's division, who attacked them in front, 
while their left flank was turned by General 
Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry. The enemy was com- 
pletely routed, and several pieces of artillery, 
with a number of prisoners, wagons, ambulances, 
etc., were captured. The cavalry are in pursuit. 

E. E. Lee, General.^'' 



196 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

If Grant expected to take Petersburg by a 
coup de main, he was grievously disappointed ; 
his attacks on it in the middle of July, as we have 
shown, were practically fruitless, while they 
brought only calamitous loss of life. In the 
North, there was at this time (gold in New York 
was then over 2.50) a widespread feeling of dis- 
appointment, as well as of impatience, at the 
manner in which he had conducted the cam- 
paign, with its ruthless waste of human life. 
The war of invasion was in many Northern 
journals bluntly spoken of as a tragic and costly 
failure ; while sympathy was not even withheld 
from the brave Lee and his ragged and ill- fed 
veterans, who had won their admiration, and, in 
spite of all their disadvantages, had accom- 
plished so much. Nor, in military quarters, 
did it escape notice that Grant's heedless and 
unfeeling tactics in the field — in marked con- 
trast to those of the humane and considerate Lee 
— were breeding discontent in his army, and 
giving birth to a feeling of hopelessness in the 
ranks when ordered out on rash ventures. This 
is specially and pointedly noted in General F. A. 
Walker's ^' Life of General Hancock," when 
referring particularly to the Second corps of 
Grant's army, on whose services in critical 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. I97 

undertakings Grant largely relied. The passage 
is as follows : 

*'Asthe corps turned southward from Cold 
Harbor to take its part in the second act of the 
great campaign of 1864, the historian" (relates 
General Walker) *'is bound to confess that 
something of its pristine virtue had departed 
under the terrific blows that had been showered 
upon it in the series of fierce encounters 
which have been recited. Its casualties had 
averaged more than four hundred a day for 
the whole period since it crossed the Eapidan . . . 
moreover, the confidence of the troops in their 
leaders had been severely shaken. They had 
again and again been ordered to attacks which 
the very privates in the ranks knew to be hope- 
less from the start ; they had seen the fatal 
policy of ' assaults all along the line, ' persisted 
in even after the most ghastly failures ; and 
they had almost ceased to expect victory when 
they went into battle. The lamentable story of 
Petersburg " (the historian-critic adds) ** cannot be 
understood without reference to facts like these." 
In sharp contrast to this feeling of despondency 
and discontent in Grant's command was the 
hopefulness manifested by all ranks of Lee's 
army, their ready alacrity to undertake any 



198 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

enterprise their beloved leader asked of them, 
and their fidelity and attachment to the person 
of their great chieftain. To their cause — a lost 
one though it was to he — they were, moreover, 
and to the last, ever staunchly and enthusiasti- 
cally loyal and faithful. This is well borne 
out and attested in a passage occurring at the 
close of the chapter, on ' The Campaign in the 
Wilderness,' in Professor H. A. White's admi- 
rable ^^ Life of Eobert E. Lee and the Southern 
Confederacy" (N. Y., Putnams, 1902). ''The 
Army of Northern Virginia," observes the in- 
teresting and well-informed writer of the biogra- 
phy, " still retained its old elasticity and vigor. 
Lee's losses" (in the Wilderness Campaign) 
amounted to about 20,000. The spirit of the 
soldiers was yet buoyant. The old yell had 
gathered additional fierceness ; the men went 
into battle with all their former dash and 
impetuosity. Perhaps not one in Lee's heroic 
band held a doubt as to the ultimate success of 
the Confederacy." 

At the beginning of July, when discontent was 
rife in the North at the protracted and costly 
campaign Grant was conducting, and when 
Washington was but indifferently protected by 
Federal troops, while high military officers in the 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 199 

• National capital were known to be engrossed in 
petty jealousies of each other, Lee despatched his 
trusted colleague, General Early, with a force of 
10,000 men, across the Potomac to invade Mary- 
land and threaten Washington. From the 
Southern point of view, the projected raid north- 
ward was a politic one under the circumstances ; 
while it was most disconcerting and embarrassing 
to the Washington authorities and created con- 
sternation throughout the North. It moreover 
diverted to the capital a large contingent of troops 
organized at New Orleans, which were designed as 
additions to Grant's army ; while, at the close of 
the month (July, 1864), it drew from his cavalry 
command at Petersburg the dashing Sheridan. 
From the latter officer's ^^ Personal Memoirs" 
(N. Y., 1888), we extract an interesting account 
of the expedition of Early, with its chief incidents, 
and the efforts that were made in the North to 
interfere with and put an end to it. ^^ By rapid 
marching," relates General Sheridan, *^ Early 
reached Winchester on the 2nd of July, and on 
the 4:th occupied Martinsburg, driving General 
Sigel out of that place the same day that Hunter's 
troops, after their fatiguing retreat through the 
mountains, reached Charlestown, West Virginia. 
Early was thus enabled to cross the Potomac 



200 * LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

without difficulty, when, moving around Harper's 
Ferry, through the gaps of the South Mountain, 
he found his path unobstructed till he reached the 
Monocacy, where Rickett's division of the Sixth 
corps, and some raw troops that had been col- 
lected by General Lew Wallace, met and held the 
Confederates till the other reinforcements that 
had been ordered to the capital from Petersburg 
could be brought up. Wallace contested the line 
of the Monocacy with obstinacy, but had to retire 
finally toward Baltimore. The road was then 
open to Washington, and Early marched to the 
outskirts and began against the capital the dem- 
onstrations (July 11-12) which were designed to 
divert the Army of the Potomac from its main 
purpose in front of Petersburg. Early's audacity 
in thus threatening Washington had caused some 
concern to the officials in the city, but as the move- 
ment was looked upon by General Grant as a mere 
foray, which could have no decisive issue, the 
Administration was not much disturbed till the 
Confederates came in close proximity. Then was 
repeated the alarm and consternation of two 
years before, fears for the safety of the capital 
being magnified by the confusion and discord 
existing among the different generals in Wash- 
ington and Baltimore ; and the imaginary dangers 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 201 

vanished only with the appearance of General 
Wright, who with the Sixth corps and one divi- 
sion of the Nineteenth corps, pushed out to attack 
Early as soon as he could get his arriving troops 
in hand, but under circumstances that precluded 
celerity of movement. As a consequence, the 
Confederates escaped with little injury, retiring 
across the Potomac to Leesburg, unharassed save 
by some Union cavalry that had been sent out into 
London county by Hunter, who, in the meantime, 
had arrived at Harper's Ferry by the Baltimore 
and Ohio railroad. 

*' From Leesburg Early retired through Win- 
chester toward Strasburg, but when the head of 
his column reached this place he found that he 
was being followed by General Crook with the 
combined troops of Hunter and Sigel only, Wright 
having returned to Washington under orders to 
rejoin Meade at Petersburg. This reduction of 
the pursuing force tempting Early to resume the 
offensive, he attacked Crook at Kernstown, and 
succeeded in administering such a check as to 
necessitate'this general's retreat to Martinsburg, 
and finally to Harper's Ferry. Crook's with- 
drawal restored to Early the line of the Upper 
Potomac, so, recrossing this stream, he advanced 
again into Maryland, and sending McCausland on 



202 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

to Chambersburg, Pa., laid that town in ashes 
[July 30], leaving 3,000 non-combatants without 
shelter or food. . . . 

^^ This second irruption of Early, and his ruth- 
less destruction of Chambersburg, led to many 
recommendations on the part of General Grant 
looking to a speedy elimination of the confusion 
then existing among the Union forces along the 
Upper Potomac, but for a time the authorities 
at Washington would approve none of his propo- 
sitions. . . . Finally the maneuvers of Early 
and the raid to Chambersburg compelled a par- 
tial compliance, though Grant had somewhat 
circumvented the difficulty already by" deciding to 
appoint a commander for the forces in the field 
that were to operate against Early. On the 31st 
of July, General Grant selected me as this com- 
mander. . . . On the evening of August 1, 1 was 
relieved from immediate duty with the Army of 
the Potomac, but not from command of the 
cavalry as a corps organization. I arrived at 
Washington August 4, and the next day received 
instructions from General Halleck to report to 
General Grant at Monocacy Junction, whither 
he had gone direct from City Point, in conse- 
quence of a characteristic despatch from the 
President indicating his disgust with the con- 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 203 

fusion, disorder, and helplessness prevailing 
along the Upper Potomac, and intimating that 
Grant's presence there was necessary. " 

This extract, which is longer than at the out- 
set we intended to make, sets forth the essential 
incidents in General Early's expedition towards 
the national capital. It at the same time makes 
clear, what we have already pointed out, the 
unseemly contentions, caballings, and jealousies 
rife among the Northern generals, and that at 
a critical juncture of affairs, when the nation was 
riven asunder by civil war, and when patriotism 
and loyalty to the cause these officers professed 
to uphold counselled concord and amity among 
brethren in the profession of arms. How sore a 
trial, in addition to all else he had at this era to 
bear, these contentions were to the head of the 
Federal nation— so soon now to come to a piti- 
ful and tragical end — we can readily conceive ; 
and well was Lincoln justified in calling upon 
Grant at this period, as in his perplexity we see 
that he did, to seek aid in making peace among 
the responsible though jarring chiefs of the 
Unionist arms. 

But we once more turn our attention to our 
narrative proper, though in the interval there 
has been little occurring at Petersburg to record, 



204 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

save the progress of Federal entrenching, and 
the construction of what is known as Burnside's 
Mine, to he used against the fortifications of the 
city, and its gallant defenders within and with- 
out its walls. The story of this Mine, it has to 
he related, is a tragical one, with an almost 
farcical cast, for what had taken many weeks' 
expenditure of labor and material to prepare, , 
and launch against the foe, recoiled, and with 
most disastrous effect, upon the Federals who 
had prepared, and upon the sacrificed assaulting 
columns that took part in the attack, after the 
mine was fired (July 30th). The mine was ex- 
cavated behind a concealed portion of the Federal 
lines, a ravine in rear of Burnside's command, 
and extended along a tunnel-way, over 500 feet 
in length, to a point immediately underneath a 
projecting angle of the Confederate defences, 
known as Elliott's Salient, at the time occupied 
by 300 of Elliott's Carolinian corps, together 
with a battery of guns. Here, in this ghastly 
subterranean passage-way, were deposited some 
8000 pounds of blasting powder, which, when the 
match was applied to it, was not only to blow 
up the 300 Carolinians and the battery on the 
angle crest, but to cause such consternation to 
the Confederates and damage to their fortifi- 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 205 

cations, that it would be easy, it was thought, 
to assault and carry Petersburg and capture its 
doomed defenders. 

Extensive preparations had previously been 
made by the Federals for this direful attempt to 
capture Petersburg. A monster array of mortars 
and heavy guns were put in position to assist in 
the assault ; while more than half of Grant's 
large army was drawn up, in addition to the as- 
saulting columns, to be precipitated against the 
breaches about to be made in the '^ rebel" de- 
fences, and, when the crucial moment arrived, to 
be thrown into, seize, and occupy the city, the 
defenders of which, it was thought, would be so 
paralyzed by the firing of the mine as to become 
easy Federal prey. The time, moreover, had been 
well chosen for the assault, for at the period Lee 
and a large portion of his command, by a piece of 
strategy on Grant's part, had been lured across the 
James Eiver, some twenty miles from the place, 
to defend an outlying Confederate post against 
attack by Sheridan and Hancock, whose ulterior 
design was to march upon Eichmond. The out- 
lying post, it was found, however, was so strongly 
protected that the expedition against it was unable 
to effect anything, and so was recalled ; Lee and 



206 LIFE OF GENERxVL LEE. 

his command returning to Petersburg almost 
simultaneously. 

Meantime, all having been made ready, the 
mine was sprung, the explosion blowing up the 
Confederate fort in the air, and with it its 300 
garrison, but leaving an immense crater, over 
30 feet deep, 140 feet in length, and 65 feet in 
width, partly filled with a mass of loose earth, 
impossible for the Federal troops to get over on 
their way to the assault. Into this chasm, how- 
ever, the Federal forlorn hope, composed of white 
and black soldiery, were sent, only to become an 
entangled and confused mass, upon whom, when 
the Confederates recovered from their surprise 
and rallied their defending forces, they poured a 
fire of so destructive a character that no life could 
live through it. To add to the confusion in the 
crater, the supporting Federal columns were also 
pushed forward, quickly losing their formation, 
and huddling all up inextricably ; while an in- 
describable panic seized the whole, as they were 
mowed down by the merciless Confederate fire. 
The place became a veritable charnel-house and 
death-trap, though the Federals bravely sought 
to remedy matters, and, in spite of the confusion 
worse confounded, attempted to reach the crest of 
the '* rebel" positions; but all were driven help- 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 207 

lessly back or fell victims to the withering fire 
poured upon them. From this scene of heart- 
rending and unresisted slaughter few returned 
to the Federal lines ; the losses in killed, wounded, 
and taken prisoners, amounting to no less than 
4,500 men, falling chiefly on Ledlie's division of 
Burnside's corps, and upon the divisions of the 
Federal Ninth corps commanded by Wilcox and 
Potter. The Confederate casualties, including 
the 300 of the South Carolina infantry blown up, 
with part of Pegram's battery; in Elliott's Salient, 
all told, did not exceed 1000. 

Thus ended the episode of the Burnside Mine, 
an episode which in its calamitous and demoral- 
izing results was most mortifying to General 
Grant ; while it created such consternation in the 
North that it sent up the depreciated United 
States currency, always extremely susceptible to 
Federal disasters in the field, to 2.90. Another 
result was to cause several of the influential 
Northern journals to renew the clamor to end 
the war, with a suggestion, which emanated from 
the New York Herald, to despatch an embassy to 
the Richmond administration, seeking to bring 
about that purpose by an immediate treaty of 
peace. Nothing, however, came of the proposal. 

Later in the month of August, and after the 



^08 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

Federal army had recovered from the effects of 
the misdirected Burnside Mine operation, Grant 
renewed his raiding attempts in the vicinity of 
his extended lines, chiefly with the intent of 
destroying the Weldon railroad. His further 
design, no doubt, was to divert his forces from 
the tedium of trench-construction and other 
wearying siege duties in front of Petersburg. 
In these raiding diversions, which were con- 
ducted, under Grant's orders, by two infantry 
divisions, commanded by General Hancock, as- 
sisted by General Warren's corps, by Gregg's 
cavalry, and by a battery of Federal guns, mis- 
fortune, in the main, also pursued Northern 
operations. To check these movements, as well 
as to protect his own flanks. General Lee directed 
General A. P. Hill, supported by Heth's and 
Mahone's commands, Hampton's cavalry, and 
Pegram's guns, to move along the endangered 
railway, upon which, and upon the Danville rail- 
road, Lee's army depended for its supplies from 
Eichmond, with the design, if possible, of bring- 
ing the Federals to battle. For some days there 
was no other result than sundry skirmishings ; 
though by the 19th of August Warren's com- 
mand was come upon and a heavy loss was caused 
him, including the capture of 2,500 of his men. 



THE SIEGE OP PETERSBURG. 209 

The Federals, meanwhile, strongly entrenched 
themselves by the railway, and Hill found it 
difficult to oust them or bring them to battle. 
Thus was the Weldon road lost to the Confed- 
erates. This, however, did not interfere with 
Hill's efforts to dislodge the enemy, and fighting 
continued for a time, the Federal losses, chiefly 
falling upon Warren's corps, amounting by the 
21st of the month to 4,450 men. By the 24th (of 
August) Warren's command was re-enforced by 
the divisions under Hancock, which materially 
strengthened Warren, especially in the neighbor- 
hood of Eeam's Station on the Weldon railroad. 
Here a severe engagement took place, most disas- 
trous to Hancock, and disheartening in its effect 
upon his spiritless and panic-stricken men. The 
attack was made by General A. P. Hill, led by a 
charge of Heth's command, and supported by 
Hampton's cavalry and part of Pegram's battery. 
The extent of the discomfiture which ensued is 
told in General Lee's report to Kichmond, under 
date August 26th (two days after the encounter). 
Here is Lee's account of the fighting : 

'* General A. P. Hill attacked the enemy in his 
entrenchments at Beam's Station yesterday even- 
ing, and at the second assault carried his entire 
line. Cooke's and McEae's North Carolina brig- 



210 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ades, under General Heth, and Lane's North 
Carolina brigade of Wilcox's division, under Gen- 
eral Connor, with Pegram's artillery, composed 
the assaulting column. One line of breast-works 
was carried by the cavalr}^, under General Hamp- 
ton, with great gallantr}^, who contributed greatly 
to the success of the day. Seven stands of colors, 
two thousand prisoners, and nine pieces of artil- 
lery are in our possession. The loss of the enemy 
in killed and wounded is reported to be heavy ; 
ours relatively small. Our profound gratitude is 
due to the Giver of all victory, and our thanks to 
the brave men and officers engaged. 

E. E. LEE, General'' 

After the action at Reams' Station, little of mo- 
ment for a month happened, save minor attacks 
on the extension of Lee's position north of the 
James Eiver. About the middle of September an 
expedition was sent out under General Hampton 
to attack a Federal post about twenty miles from 
Petersburg, and, with the aid of the Confederate 
cavalry, to capture a large drove of cattle, de- 
signed for the uses of the Federal camp, then graz- 
ing in Prince George county, Va. The Federal 
post was taken by surprise, the works and camp 
being captured, with 300 of a garrison ; while the 
cattle were secured and driven towards the 



THE SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. QH 

'^ rebel" camp. On the way, however, Hamp- 
ton's column was met by one under the Federal 
general, Wilson, which sought to resist the Con- 
federate return to Petersburg and retake the 
captured beeves. Though Hampton lost fifty 
men in the fight that ensued, he was able to re- 
turn with his command to headquarters, bringing 
with him all the cattle, which proved a timely ac- 
quisition, for many weeks, to the ever-scantily- 
supplied Confederate camp leaders. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE AUTUMN OF 1864, AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 

As the autumn of 1864 had now come and the 
winter of 1864-5 approached, the situation of 
affairs in the Confederacy was extremely grave 
and full of omen. Grant, it is true, had, so far, 
effected little about Petersburg, and Lee and his 
army were still in fine fettle. But elsewhere it 
was going ill with the South, and premonitions 
of ^^ a lost cause " were beginning to arise in the 
minds of friends of the Confederacy. The winter 
months which followed proved still more ominous 
of the coming end, the result, in the main, of 
Sherman's achievements in the West and South, 
including the taking of Atlanta, the success which 
attended his famous '^ march to the sea," his 
later contests with Johnston and operations in 
the Carolinas, added to Thomas' triumph over 
Hood at Nashville, Farragut's victory at Mobile 
Bay, and Porter's capture of Fort Fisher, closing 
the sea to the South — a succession of disasters 
which boded ill for its cause, and ruin to it when 

212 



l-HE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 213 

Sheridan defeated Early near Charlottesville, 
won the battle of Five Forks, and captured the 
whole of EwelPs command. All these losses 
** broke the back of rebellion," while it gave joy 
to the North, which by this time had re-elected 
Lincoln and sustained his Administration, and 
placed increasing forces at Grant's command 
against Lee and his now fast-dwindling and 
impoverished army at Petersburg. 

Despite the depressing aspect of affairs through- 
out the South, the heroic Lee maintained unper- 
turbed his serene bearing and manner, and re- 
tained even a hopeful feeling in his breast ; while 
he infected his army with a like sense of security 
and hopefulness, and led it ever to manifest its 
wonted courage and buoyancy of spirits, with 
resignation to its poorly-clad and ill- fed condition. 
One who saw Lee at this critical era in the affairs 
of the South gives us this description of the 
great leader and his indifference to hardship and 
mental depression : 

^^ His cheeks were ruddy," writes the observer, 
'* and his eye had that clear light which indicates 
the presence of the calm, self-poised will. But 
his hair had grown gray, like his beard and mus- 
tache, which were worn short and well-trimmed. 

*' His dress, as always, was a plain but service- 



214 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

able gray uniform, with no indications of rank 
save the stars on the collar. Cavalry boots 
reached nearly to his knees, and he seldom wore 
any weapon. A broad brimmed, gray felt hat 
rested low upon the forehead ; and the move- 
ments of this soldierly figure were as firm, meas- 
ured, and imposing as ever. It was impossible 
to discern in General Lee any evidences of im- 
paired strength, or any trace of the wearing 
hardships through which he had passed. He 
seemed made of iron, and would remain in the 
saddle all day, and then at his desk half the night, 
without apparently feeling any fatigue. " 

Before the winter set in in its rigor, Grant once 
more sought to deliver a well-prepared attack on 
the Confederate right. That flank, which was a 
long one, rested mainly behind strong entrench- 
ments at Hatcher's Eun, beyond what is locally 
known as the Boydton plank road, close by the 
South Side R.R. The attacking force, which set 
out about the end of October, was a formidable 
one, composed of the bulk of the best fighting 
element in Grant's army — the 5th and 9th corps, 
commanded by Warren and Hancock, supported 
by Gregg's cavalry. Lee met this new movement 
with his wonted alertness and vigor, and there 
was need of this, for the expeditionary force sent 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 215 

out by the Federal lieutenant-general was over 
30,000 strong, in addition to 3,000 cavalry. Lee's 
defensive and offensive reliance, as usual, was 
upon the commands of Generals A. P. Hill, Heth, 
and Mahone, and upon the knowledge possessed 
by the troops of the region, which was chiefly a 
densely wooded one, full of wild underbrush, of 
an entangling and obstructing character. The 
details of the fighting need not detain us, for the 
conflict was a brief one, with little room for 
maneuvering or display of tactics. The result 
was, nevertheless, disastrous to the Federals, the 
*^ rebel" position being found too formidable for 
hasty assault, and the expedition returned to 
Petersburg the same night. '^ In the attack," as 
we learn from General Lee's subsequent Eeport, 
^' General Mahone broke three lines of battle, 
captured YOO prisoners, three stands of colors, and 
six pieces of artillery, the enemy retiring during 
the night, leaving his wounded and more than 250 
dead on the field." The entire loss of the day's 
operations to the Federals, besides the spoil taken 
by *^ the Eebs," was over 1760 men. After this, 
there were for months no further hostile expedi- 
tions set on foot by Grant ; only the routine camp 
duties, enlivened by occasional picket and out- 
post firing, occupied both armies through the 



216 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

winter. *^0n the same day" (Oct. 27, 1864), as 
Prof. H. A. White, in his Memoir of Lee, relates, 
"Longstreet celebrated his return to the field by 
visiting a loss of more than one thousand upon 
Butlers brigades, who were attempting to creep 
through the White Oak Swamp into the Rich- 
mond defenses." 

At this time, Richmond was so uncomfortably 
menaced by the proximity of Grant's army at 
Petersburg and his numerically strong cavalry 
contingent, as well as by the readiness with 
which Sheridan always manifested his disposition 
to respond to Grant's call to lead expeditionary 
forays in the direction of the Southerners' capital, 
that there was serious thought in the minds of 
the Confederate Government to retire from it, 
and, as Lee had suggested, to remove the machin- 
ery of administration to Danville. Besides the 
menace from these sources, there was soon now 
to be dreaded the coming of Sherman to join 
Grant's Army of the James, for nothing was 
deemed more probable than that general, who was 
then undertaking his vast destroying marches in 
the South, would fall upon Richmond, now weak 
in defensive force, and visit it with the sword and 
the torch. That it had not been captured ere this 
was due mainly to Lee's constant solicitude on its 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 2i7 

account, and to his ready, practical interposition 
when it was in serious jeopardy from the Federals. 
Evacuation, unhappily, as it afterwards turned 
out, came to be ultimately necessary, and an en- 
forced measure of war at the close of the great 
struggle, when the Confederate capital could do 
no more for Lee — little really as it had ever been 
able to do for him who had done so much for it 
and the South. 

Just before the affair at Hatcher's Eun, at the 
close of October (1864), an end had come to 
General Early's raid in the Valley of the She- 
nandoah and the threatening of Washington, by 
the return to camp at Petersburg of that officer. 
That expedition had been sent out by Lee, not 
only as a legitimate reprisal foray into the enemy's 
country and to bring near to the North the peril 
and harassments of war, in the vast game else- 
where played with such vigor and daring over 
great parts of the country ; but also to keep at 
home the forces needed for the protection of the 
Federal capital, that would otherwise be sent on 
to the region of the James, to swell the already 
large army of Grant before Petersburg. To op- 
pose Early's northward expedition, Major-General 
Sheridan had been transferred from Grant's army, 
and in August had been given command of what 



218 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

was known as the Middle Military Division of 
the United States, with a special eye upon the 
protection of Washington and the warding off of 
Confederate raids into Maryland, which had been 
provoked by the devastations caused by Generals 
Sigel and Hunter's operations in the Virginia 
Valley. 

Jubal Early had been off on his expedition since 
the beginning of July, and had created much stir in 
the North by his repulse of Hunter at Lynch- 
burg and of Lew Wallace at Monocacy, as well 
as by his despatch of a cavalry force into Penn- 
sylvania, which burned Chambersburg in retal- 
iation for Federal outrages in Virginia. When 
Hunter had resigned his command and Sheridan 
was appointed, Lee supplemented Early's force 
by Kershaw's division of Longstreet's corps and 
by Fitzhugh Lee's division of cavalry, both under 
General Anderson, to cooperate with Early, who 
was then in some jeopardy at Strasburg, and in 
need of reenf orcements. The combined forces of 
Anderson and Early were united at Winchester, 
where they drove the Federals from the place 
back upon Harper's Ferry and the Maryland 
Heights. Later on, Anderson, with Kershaw's 
division, was ordered by Lee to Culpeper Court 
House ; while Early, who was still at Winchester, 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 219 

was directed to protect the Virginia Central 
Eailroad from attack, and to make free with the 
harvests, then ready for the sickle, in the 
Shenandoah Valley, at the same time to be with- 
in call should Lee require his return to Peters- 
burg. 

At the period (now the middle of September), 
Sheridan and his command, which was strong 
in horse, moved from his position at Berry ville, 
south of Harper's Ferry, and soon encountered 
Early at Winchester. Here, the latter had a force 
only of 11,000 or 12,000 men (8,500 muskets and 
3,000 sabers), while Sheridan's opposing strength 
was nearly three times as large. At Winchester, 
in spite of the great disparity in numbers, battle 
was given by the impetuous Early, and to his 
grievous loss, for 2,500 of his force was captured 
by Sheridan ; while he and his command had to 
fall back, hotly pressed by Sheridan, to Fisher's 
Hill, close to Strasburg. Here battle was again 
given, this time by the Federal leader, who once 
more defeated Early, with a loss of many guns 
and a large part of his command ; while Early 
was now compelled to seek safety in the lower 
passes of the Blue Eidge Mountains. Sheridan 
not only pursued his Confederate antagonist, but 
sent a force forward to get on his rear and cut 




'^^ 



220 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

off his continued retreat. On the track of Early, 
Sheridan advanced as far as Staunton, and with- 
drew behind Cedar Creek, to wreck the Virginia 
Central railroad, and ruthlessly to ravage and 
lay waste the Shenandoah Valley. This he did 
not only by laying hands on and appropriating 
all animal life in the region belonging to the 
farmers and settlers in the Valley, but by de- 
stroying the grain and forage with which the 
barns were at the time filled, and burning a 
great number of mills, and a vast quantity of 
agricultural implements. This destruction of 
everything of value belonging to noncombatants 
and the desolating of the entire region were acts, 
surely, of a despicable and inhuman character, 
which one would not expect to find committed by 
an otherwise honored and gallant soldier. No 
plea of acts justified by war can or ought to pardon 
such an outrage ; and the remembrance of the 
horrid deeds cannot fail to stain the memory 
of the man who was guilty of them, even under 
superior orders. 

While these atrocities were being committed, 
Early's command was reunited with Kershaw's 
division, which partly made good the general's 
losses, and emboldened him to renew the fight- 
ing at Cedar Creek, where Sheridan's army was 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 221 

posted behind strong entrenchments. The Fed- 
eral command, for the time being, was assumed 
by General Wright, owing to the temporary ab- 
sence of Sheridan. Wright's chief aides were 
Generals Eicketts, Emory, and Crook, who com- 
manded, respectively, the U. S. 6th, 8th, and 19th 
corps ; while the cavalry was under Averill, Cus- 
ter, and Merritt. This was the situation on the 
18th of October (1864), when General Early stole 
quickly over night towards the north fork of the 
Shenandoah, which he forced with his command, 
and silently moved at dawn on the 19th upon the 
Federal camp (Crook's) at Cedar Creek. Here he 
took the enemy by surprise, captured many hun- 
dreds of them, (besides seizing eighteen heavy 
guns), and drove the remainder of the camp that 
escaped, in a panic-stricken mass, down the Valley 
Turnpike. ^'To rally the men in their bewilder- 
ment was impossible," observes Mr. W. Swinton, 
in his record of the Cedar Creek fight, in his 
*' Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac," "and 
Crook's corps, being thoroughly broken up, fled in 
disorder, leaving many guns in the hands of the 
enemy. As soon as this flank attack was de- 
veloped, Early, with his other column, emerged 
from behind the hills west of Cedar Creek, and, 
crossing that stream, struck directly the troops 



222 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

on the right of Crook. This served to complete 
the disaster, and the whole Union left and center 
became a confused mass, against which the Con- 
federates directed the captured artillery, while 
the flanking force swept forward to the main 
turnpike. Such was the scene on which the light 
of day dawned. The only force not yet involved 
in the enemy's onset was the Sixth corps, which 
by its position was somewhat in rear. With this 
General Ricketts quickly executed a change of 
front, throwing it forward at right angles to its 
former position, and firmly withstood the enemy's 
shock. Its chief service, however, was to cover 
the general retreat which Wright now ordered, 
as the only practicable means of reuniting his 
force. . . . 

**At the first good position between Middle- 
town and Newtown, Wright was able to rally 
and re-form the troops, form a compact line, and 
prepare either to resist further attack or himself 
assume the offensive. It was at this time, about 
half-past ten a.m., that General Sheridan arrived 
upon the field from Winchester, where he had 
slept the previous night. Hearing '(at day- 
break, twenty miles away)' the distant sounds 
of battle rolling up from the south, Sheridan 
rode post-haste to the front, where, arriving, his 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 223 

electric manner had on the troops a very in- 
spiriting effect. General Wright had already 
brought order out of confusion, and made dis- 
positions for attack. ... A counter-charge was 
begun at three o'clock in the afternoon. . . . 
A large part of Early's force, in the intoxication 
of success, had abandoned their colors and taken 
to plundering the abandoned Federal camps. 
The refluent wave was as resistless as the Con- 
federate surge had been. . . . The retreat soon 
became a rout. ... In the pursuit, all the cap- 
tured guns were retaken, and twenty- three in 
addition. The captures included, besides, nearly 
1,500 prisoners. . . . With this defeat of Earl}^ 
all operations of moment in the Shenandoah 
ended," and the bulk of the troops on either side 
were recalled to Petersburg. 

The inglorious termination of the battle of 
Cedar Creek, by the misconduct of the men of 
Early's command, was, naturally, most mortify- 
ing to that general, and drew from him, three 
days after the affair xDccurred, a sharp but now 
futile reprimand. In his address to his troops^ 
General Early pointed out that all the benefits of 
the victory gained had been lost and a serious 
disaster incurred ; adding that had they remained 
steadfast to their duty and their colors, the battle 



224 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

would have been " one of the most brilliant 
and decisive of the war." '^ But," continues the 
general in his address, '' many of you, including 
some commissioned officers, yielding to a dis- 
graceful propensity for plunder, deserted your 
colors to appropriate to yourselves the abandoned 
property of the enemy, and subsequently those 
who had previously remained at their posts, see- 
ing their ranks thinned by the absence of the plun- 
derers, when the enemy, late in the afternoon, 
with his shattered columns, made but a feeble 
effort to retrieve the fortunes of the day, yielded 
to a needless panic and fled the field in confu- 
sion, thereby converting a splendid victory into a 
disaster." 

^ The Shenandoah Valley having been made a 
waste, most of the Confederate troops were either 
recalled to Petersburg or transferred, as Brecken- 
ridge's division was, to Southwestern Virginia ; 
while Early was left at Staunton, with but the 
remains of Wharton's division. In the Spring 
of 1865, notwithstanding his past services. Early 
was relieved of his command, when at Franklin 
Court House, Va., so continued was the outcry 
against him for the mishap in the Valley, and the 
breach of discipline he had been so conspicuously 
and disastrously unable to check in the men 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 225 

that had composed the expedition. In taking the 
step of relieving Early of his duties, General Lee, 
in the letter he sent him on the occasion, was 
most sympathetic and conciliatory, being careful 
not to wound unnecessarily the old general's feel- 
ings ; while he thanked him for the fidelity and 
courage shown by him in always supporting his 
(Lee's) efforts, and for the devotion he had ever 
manifested in the service of the South. 

Meanwhile, the North had been putting forth 
great efforts to bring the conflict with the 
South to a close, and that not only at Petersburg 
but elsewhere, which she was now well able to 
do, so vast were her resources of men and 
material. At Petersburg, the winter months 
had been most trying to Lee and his long-strung- 
out, but now greatly thinned, as well as much 
famished, army ; while Grant's forces were at 
this time well-fed and cared for, having been re- 
cruited up to 120,000 men, nearly three times the 
number of serviceable troops his opponent had at 
his command. Lee and his veterans in gray were, 
however, still filled with the old invincible spirit 
that had long animated them, in spite of their 
gaunt and ill-clad condition, and the now dark 
prospect of their lovingly espoused and warmly 
cherished cause. Pitiful is it to read of Lee's 



226 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

appeals to Richmond at this period for the neces- 
saries of life for his troops, for the requisites of 
shelter and clothing, in an inclement season, for his 
men, and even for forage for his horses — appeals 
that were indifferently heeded by the Commissary 
Department at the Southern capital, and as in- 
differently doled out. Under the circumstances, 
need surprise be felt at the desertions that were 
now prevalent in the ranks, and that conscription 
resulted in practically no additions to the strength 
of the army ; while the proposition was now rife 
to arm the slaves, though to do so and bring 
them to the front would be but to add more 
stomachs to be filled or go empty, and, if the 
latter, aggravate rather than relieve the situa- 
tion at Petersburg. The necessity of insisting 
upon Lee's remaining where he was, for the pro- 
tection of Eichmond and the defense of its key-po- 
sition, Petersburg, seemed cruel, while the region 
was so little able to feed his army, and when there 
was urgent need of his services in other parts of 
the menaced Confederacy, where he might, and 
doubtless would, have turned the scale in the 
fortune of war to greater advantage to himself 
and the common cause. Whoever was responsi- 
ble for this course being adhered to, the blame of 
it does not attach to General Lee, though he 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 227 

loyally did what he could where he was kept ; the 
blame rather attaches to the Confederate Ad- 
ministration, among whom, as we know, there 
was not over much harmony at its council- 
board and not a little want of acumen in failing 
to see what, broadly and at large, was for the 
best for Southern interests. 

At this juncture of affairs in the South, when 
Grant had refused to allow any more exchanges 
of prisoners, and President Lincoln had issued his 
call for 300,000 additional volunteers with which 
to prosecute the war, the North encouraged the 
Hon. Francis P. Blair, of Maryland, to open nego- 
tiations for a conference with representatives 
of the Confederate Government, seeking to put 
an end to hostilities. The conference, it was 
understood, was to be of an informal character, 
and with the single view of discovering whether 
it was possible to influence the South to listen to 
overtures of peace. A meeting took place, known 
as the Hampton Eoads Peace Conference, three 
Southern commissioners (Messrs. A. H. Stephens, 
J. A. Campbell, and P. M. T. Hunter) being per- 
mitted to pass the Federal lines early in Febru- 
ary, 1865, and proceed to Fortress Monroe, Va., 
where a confab was had with Secretary of State 
Seward, and, later, with President Lincoln, but 



228 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

which ended without practical results. Though 
this was the case, it is worth while noting the sim- 
ple and liberal conditions on which the North was 
prepared to make peace with her '^ erring sister" 
of the South. These were: 1, '^The restoration 
of the national authority throughout all the 
States ; 2, No receding by the Executive of the 
United States on the slavery question from the 
position assumed thereon in the late annual Mes- 
sage to Congress, and in preceding documents ; 
and 3, No cessation of hostilities short of an end 
of the war and the disbanding of all forces hostile 
to the Government." 

With the failure of this conference and the 
continued stress of a forlorn situation, together 
with the inability of the Confederate Government 
and Congress to do anything to improve the out- 
look, or even provide for the sustenance of the 
army at Petersburg, Lee's position was a clouded 
and hopeless one, though, at the period, as it was 
practically admitted by all, he was the only 
general left in the field in whom the South had 
still confidence, and to whom it might yet assur- 
ingly look to accomplish anything. Now, how- 
ever, it was manifestly too late for aught to be 
done to save the Confederacy, even though our 
hero was at this juncture given the titular com- 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 229 

mand of all its armies. To give Lee now the rank 
of lieuteuant-general, with supreme command 
over all the Southern armies in the field, indepen- 
dent of the control of President Davis, was little 
else than a farce, since the Richmond Government 
could not relieve or replace him at Petersburg ; 
and neither did it, or could it now, increase or 
even feed his forces there, so that he might con- 
tinue the conflict with any semblance or hope 
of success. Though the condition of affairs was 
now such — the Confederacy having become utter- 
ly shattered and incapable of further effort — Lee 
accepted the proffered honor, and, late as it was, 
he steeled his heart anew to undertake what was 
possible under the circumstances. The one object, 
at this crisis, he had in view, was, if practicable, 
to effect a junction with the command of his old 
colleague, General J. E. Johnston, who, with his 
Army of the Tennessee, had been opposing, though 
with ill-success. General Sherman in North Caro- 
lina, and whom he hoped to join as he came to- 
ward Virginia with his still considerable force. 

The doings of General Johnston from the period 
when he was assigned to the Department of the 
Southwest, through the era of the Federal inva- 
sion of Georgia and the operations in the Caro- 
linas, do not, we are aware, of course, belong to 



^30 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

the story we are here dealmg with in connection 
with General Lee. But as these operations form 
an important part of the story of the Civil War, 
and are in themselves replete with interest, we 
have deemed it proper to give some brief record 
of them in these pages, so far, at least, as they are 
connected with the movements of Johnston, and 
his successor Hood, in attempting to oppose those 
of General Sherman, after the latter had launched 
his attack upon Atlanta. With the early portions 
of the story that preceded the Atlanta campaign 
we have already dealt — with that part, at least, 
when, after the raising of the siege of Chat- 
tanooga, and fighting the battle at Lookout Moun- 
tain, the army of Bragg was routed, and its 
commander was replaced by General J. E. John- 
ston. About the same time, Grant was given com- 
mand of all the armies of the Union, and proceeded 
to the James River, to take charge with Meade of 
the operations against Lee and Beauregard at 
Petersburg. Some few months later (at the close 
of June, 1864), Johnston gave battle to Sherman 
and his lieutenants Thomas, Schofield, and Mc- 
Pherson at Kenesaw, Ga., and won the fight, 
inflicting a considerable loss upon the Federals. 
In spite of this success, Johnston retired across 
the Chattahoochee Eiver and took up a position 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 231 

southward, at Peach Tree Creek, which he pro- 
ceeded to entrench. At this period, the Confed- 
erate Government, being dissatisfied with John- 
ston, removed him from his command and ap- 
pointed in his place General J. B. Hood, who had 
fought under Lee at Gettysburg and under Bragg 
at Chickamauga. Abandoning the defensive pol- 
icy of his predecessor, Johnston, Hood fought 
a desperate engagement with Hooker, but was 
defeated with heavy loss. He then retired within 
the lines of Atlanta City, still fighting hard, and 
attacking whenever he could the veterans of 
Sherman's Army of the Tennessee. The com- 
mander of the latter (McPherson) having been 
killed, General Howard took his place, and sought, 
with the assistance of Schofield and Thomas, to 
break through the investing lines of Atlanta, and 
at the same time cut the railroad in the vicinity 
over which Hood drew his supplies for the city's 
garrison. The entrenchments of Atlanta, the 
Federals found, however, were too strong for 
them to carry, and Hood, elated at this, made 
several sallies upon the enemy, in one of which, 
occurring on the 28th of July, he met with 
disaster, losing over 4,600 men. About a month 
later, Sherman made a movement south of 
Atlanta to Jonesboro, held by the Confederates, 



232 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

but not fortified, his design being not only to 
capture the place, but to draw Hood from his 
strongly protected works at Atlanta. In this, 
Sherman was successful, for it enabled him, in 
Hood's absence, to take and occupy Atlanta ; 
while Hood, with his 40,000 of an army, took 
up temporary quarters at Love joy's Station, on 
the Savannah railroad, about 30 miles southwest 
of the city. 

Hood's evacuation of Atlanta, though it gave 
his opponent possession of the city, yet enabled 
him sharply to harass Sherman's long-strung- 
out line of communications, reaching from At- 
lanta back into Tennessee. To protect these, the 
Federal commander, still holding on to Atlanta, 
sent the bulk of his army north-westward ; but 
before doing so he cleared the city of its inhabit- 
ants, sending them off rather ruthlessly, as he 
designed to make of Atlanta a military post 
exclusively, to be held by General Thomas and his 
command. This act naturally aroused loud and 
angry protests from the city's magistrates and 
the populace, to which, however, Sherman was 
indifferent, though he offered to make exclusion 
from the city as little irksome to its people 
as was possible under the circumstances. In his 
mind at this period, Sherman was engrossed 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 233 

with his contemplated project of a ^^ march to 
the sea," so as to secure a strong base of opera- 
tions in the east before setting out on his pro- 
jected invasion of and lengthened expeditionary- 
raid northward, through Georgia and the 
Carolinas, back to Virginia, there to reach Grant 
before Petersburg and fall upon Lee's army from 
the rear. The accomplishment of this design of 
Sherman, as that of a born raider, took captive 
the imagination of the North ; while it was 
rendered comparatively easy, as well as safe, by 
the paralysis that had now fallen upon the South, 
which made the march through the region an 
almost wholly unopposed one. The paralysis 
throughout the Confederacy was increased at 
this period not only by the breaking up of the 
interior lines of travel and communication in 
the South, as a consequence of Federal invasion, 
but by the capture of Mobile by Farragut, 
followed by that of Fort Fisher, and by the cap- 
ture or destruction of the Confederate cruisers 
and blockade-runners at sea, which, with the 
depletion of the Eichmond treasury, lopped off 
all supplies from abroad, and put an end to hope 
of interposition by the neutral Powers of Europe. 
In such a conjunction of events adverse to the 
South, with the terrible drain upon her resources 



23,1: LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

of men and material occasioned by the long and 
devastating war, Sherman's gay but ruthless 
"march to the sea," and back through the once 
rich and populous States of the now exhausted 
Confederacy, was, as we have said, a naturally 
unopposed one, while it led to further prostra- 
tion and despondency throughout the South. 
The record of the incidents in the bold expedition 
of Sherman to found a strong base by the 
Atlantic, in addition to the possession and occupa- 
tion of Atlanta, need not long detain us. Leav- 
ing General Thomas, with a force of 27,000, 
behind to defend Atlanta and keep watch upon 
General Hood, Sherman set out with Y0,000 men 
in the middle of November and reached and 
occupied Savannah before Christmas (1864) 
Thomas, meanwhile, continued at Atlanta 
inactive till he should be strengthened by the 
arrival of an expected force under General James 
H. Wilson, which, when received, raised his total 
command to 65,000 ; while Hood at this time had 
but 40,000, all told, to pit against Thomas, 
exclusive of a small contingent of Georgia 
militia. It was now Hood's intention to move 
to the rear of Atlanta, and there to tear up the 
railway tracks between the latter city and the 
Chattahoochee, and afterwards to move upon 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 235 

Bridgeport and destroy the great bridge which 
spans the Tennessee River at that point. Hood's 
purpose in this was to isolate Atlanta from 
Chattanooga and Nashville, and thus make the 
place a barren conquest to Thomas, and his chief, 
Sherman, as a base of supply and of future 
operation. The details of this design of Hood are 
interestingly given by William Jowett Tenney, 
in his " Military and Naval History of the Rebel- 
lion " (New York, 1866). 

" A week sufficed to complete General Hood's 
arrangements," writes Mr. Tenney, ^^ and by the 
2nd of October his army was across the Chatta- 
hoochee and on the march to Dallas, where the 
different corps were directed to concentrate. At 
this point he was enabled to threaten Rome and 
Kingston, as well as the fortified places on the 
railroad to Chattanooga ; and there remained 
open, in case of defeat, a line of retreat south- 
west into Alabama. From Dallas he advanced 
east toward the railroad, and on the 4th captured 
the insignificant stations of Big Shanty and Ack- 
worth, effecting a thorough destruction of the 
road between the two places. He also sent a 
division under General French to capture the 
Federal post at Allatoona Pass, where he had 
ascertained that a million and a half of rations 



236 LIFE OF GENmiAL LEE. 

for the Federal army were stored, on which he 
probably depended to replenish his commissariat." 

Upon learning that Hood had crossed the Chat- 
tahoochee, Sherman, resumes Mr. Tenney, ^^des- 
patched General Corse with reenforcements to 
Eome, which place he supposed the enemy were 
aiming at. During the previous week he had 
sent General Thomas with troops to Nashville to 
look after Forrest. His bridges having mean- 
while been carried away by a freshet which filled 
the Chattahoochee, he was unable to move his 
main body until the 4th, when three pontoons 
were laid down, over which the armies of the 
Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Ohio crossed, 
and took up their march in the direction of Mari- 
etta, with fifteen days' rations. The 20th corps, 
General Slocum, was left to garrison Atlanta." 

Eome, as it turned out, however, was not the 
objective point, which Hood, or rather the Con- 
federate column of General French, was aiming 
at, but Allatoona ; and here French appeared on 
the 5th of October and summoned the Federal 
commander (General Corse) to surrender. This 
was at once refused, for General Sherman, when 
the action began, having reached the summit 
of Kenesaw Mountain from there signalled his 
subordinate to **hold out to the last/' and, that 



THE AUTUMN AND THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 237 

he might do so, he promised to send him succor. 
Thus assured, the Federal defender of the town re- 
pulsed the Confederate attack, though a vigorous 
cannonade wrecked much of the city and killed a 
large number of Federal artillery and cavalry 
horses, besides destroying a considerable portion 
of the railway in the immediate neighborhood. 
The Confederates finally withdrew, though not 
before they had lost close upon 800 men in the 
attack, including prisoners captured by the enemy. 
After this. Hood's command retreated in the di- 
rection of Dalton, Ga., and on the way northward 
continued the destruction of the railroad, and 
generally devastating the region. By the 14:th of 
the month. Hood reached Dalton, but, finding 
Sherman close upon his heels, he withdrew to 
Lafayette, thence southwesterly into Alabama, 
in which State he halted at Gadsden, on the 
Coosa river, where he met reenforcements under 
General Beauregard, who by this time had been 
appointed to the chief command of the Confederate 
Military Division of the West. From Gadsden, 
the Confederate double command continued the 
retreat as far as "Warrington, on the Tennessee 
Eiver, General Sherman pursuing the Confed- 
erate columns as far as Gaylesville, where the 
Federal commander halted. Whatever might 



2,38 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

have been the result of Hood's movement, Mr. 
Ten ney concludes by affirming that ^'it entirely 
failed to interrupt the Federal communications 
to a degree that would compel the evacuation of 
Atlanta. . . In the light of subsequent events," 
the historian-critic adds, ^^it would now appear 
that General Sherman, making only a show of 
following his adversary, deliberately lured him 
into Northern Alabama, for the purpose of pursu- 
ing an interrupted march with his own army 
through the heart of Georgia. The ill-advised 
plan of General Hood had given him the very 
opportunity which he desired, and he prepared at 
once to avail himself of it." 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA, TENNESSEE, AND THE 
CAROLINAS IN THE WINTER OF 1864-65. 

After the flight and repulse of the Confeder- 
ates at AUatoona, we have seen that, menaced 
by Sherman's pursuing army, Hood withdrew 
his command first into Northern Alabama, and 
after a junction with a small force under Beau- 
regard crossed into Tennessee. The area of ef- 
fective fighting left to the Confederacy was now 
fast narrowing ; while the operations of Sherman, 
Thomas, and other Federal commanders in the 
Southern tier of states from the Gulf and the Mis- 
sissippi northward and eastward also narrowed 
the area of support, in men and supplies, to what 
remained of the Southern fighting force in 
Virginia, in the region of the James. Not a 
little of the result of this was due to the success 
of Sherman in capturing Atlanta and undertak- 
ing his renowned *' march to the sea." Other 

disasters were yet to befall the South, in Tennes- 

239 



240 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. , 

see, in Schofield's defeat of Hood at Franklin, and 
the wiping out of his command by Thomas at 
Nashville ; in North Carolina, in the repulse of 
Hardee's corps of Johnston's command by Sher- 
man at Averysboro ; in the fall of Fort Fisher 
and the capture and occupation of Wilmington ; 
and in the victory of Sherman over Johnston at 
Bentonville ; besides the burning, in South Caro- 
lina, of Columbia, and the enforced evacuation of 
Charleston. Of these disasters, we shall give a 
brief running account, to enable the reader to fol- 
low the military history of the closing months of 
the Confederacy, and so prepare him for the col- 
lapse of the Southern cause in Lee's defeat by 
Sheridan at Five Forks, Va., his retreat from 
Petersburg, and the final end of the Civil War in 
the surrender at Appomattox. 

After the occupation of Atlanta and the fight 
at Allatoona, when Sherman saw that the Con- 
federate cause in Georgia and the South was an 
empty shell, that General began to realize that 
his purpose of founding a Federal base of sup- 
plies and action on the seaboard at Savannah was 
a safe and practical one, he at once prepared to 
set forth on his now historic ^^ march to the sea," 
having previously gained General Grant's con- 
sent to the undertaking of the project. Divest- 



OPERATIONS IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5. ^41 

ing himself, in the middle of November (1864), of 
all military impediments, and disencumbering 
his command of all sick, disabled, and weak men, 
as well as of all hangers-on and stragglers, Sher- 
man set forth on his expedition with an army of 
60,000 efficient and intelligent men, his objective 
point being the port of Savannah, Georgia. At 
the outset, the gallant leader had not intimated 
to his army the object of their march, the General 
Orders simply and curtly stating to his command 
that '4t is sufficient for you to know that it in- 
volves a departure from our present base (Atlanta,) 
and a long, difficult march to a new one." As the 
army was expected to live on the country they were 
to pass through, the force was to be burdened by no 
supply-train, each brigade furnishing its own com- 
pany to procure forage and supplies for the gen- 
eral need. The men were cautioned against en- 
tering private dwellings or committing trespass ; 
while no property was to be destroyed or people 
by the way molested, where the troops were not 
interfered with on the march. The only encum- 
brances permitted were the necessary ammuni- 
tion wagons and ambulances, and one wagon 
for food and fodder for each regiment. The 
separate columns were to begin their march each 
day at seven o'clock, after breakfast, and were 



242 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

expected to make fifteen miles progress each day. 
Only the railroads were to be destroyed by the 
way, such at least as were used for transporting 
men and supplies to the various sections of the 
Southern army in the North. In the march, 
which occupied twenty-seven days to reach Sav- 
annah, no serious opposition was encountered, 
though many attempts were made to harass the 
command and impede its progress. Supplies 
along the line of march were abundant, so 
that the army reached the coast with its men and 
horses in the best possible condition. Besides 
General Sherman in the chief command, there 
were with him, in charge of the two wings of the 
army, Generals Howard and Slocum, the former 
commanding the right wing, composed of the 
15th and 17th corps, and the latter the left wing, 
consisting of the 14th and 20th corps ; while 
General Kilpatrick was in command of the 
cavalry. As the expedition came to Milledge- 
ville, where the Georgia legislature was then in 
session, that body passed an Act to levy the pop- 
ulation of the state en masse; this, however, 
had no effect on the fear-stricken people of the 
town, who fled from it, with the governor, state 
officers, and city magistrates, on the entrance 
into it of the Union general, his aides, and body- 



OPERATIONS IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 243 

guard, to take up their night's quarters in the 
executive mansion. 

With the exception of some brushes with the 
Georgia State troops on the way, and occa- 
sional rearguard fights between Kilpatrick's and 
Wheeler's cavalry commands, no other impeding 
incidents occurred until the expedition reached 
the Ogeechee Eiver, which was stormed and 
speedily taken by Hazen's division, and communi- 
cation was at once opened with the Union Admi- 
ral (Dahlgren) and General Foster, in command 
at Port Eoyal. By the lYth of December, the 
force reached the defenses of Savannah, when 
Sherman summoned the Confederate commander, 
Gen. Hardee, to surrender. The response was 
the flight, on the night of the 20th, of the entire 
Confederate garrison of the city, when the gallant 
raider and his elated command entered it to en- 
joy a well-earned rest. Two days later, General 
Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln at Wash- 
ington : ^^ I beg to present you, as a Christmas 
gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns 
and abundance of ammunition, together with 
about 25,000 bales of cotton ! " 

Eesting at Savannah for over a month, the 
January rains preventing his moviug from the 
place earlier, Sherman set out on February 1st on 



244 LIFE OF GENE^RAL LEE. 

his northward march with his army. The return 
march, which was a more arduous one than that 
of the advance to the coast, owing to the swampy 
condition of the country after the season's heavy 
rains, took Sherman designedly by way of the 
Carohnas, so that he might more effectively 
menace General Lee's communications with the re- 
gion. With his columns headed in the direction of 
Columbia, S.C, Sherman, on the iTth of February, 
entered that capital of the State without opposition, 
its small cavalry garrison having abandoned the 
place on the approach of the Federal troops. Before 
withdrawing, the Confederates had massed the 
city's treasure of cotton and set fire to it, the blazing 
pile, fanned by a prevailing high wind, doing much 
damage to the city, in spite of the efforts of the 
Federals to quench the fire and save public prop- 
erty. When the troops succeeded in suppressing 
the flames, the onward march was resumed, but 
not before the city's arsenals and railway plant 
were, by Sherman's orders, destroyed, though all 
'^ harmless private property "was respected and 
saved from destruction. The menace of Sher- 
man's presence in the State had its effect at this 
period upon the seaport of Charleston, and led 
to its evacuation by the Confederates, after a 



OPERATIONS IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 245 

lengthened siege and heavy bombardment by the 
Federals. 

For a time after the march north-eastward was 
resumed, no opposition was met with, for Beau- 
regard's cavalry command, then in the State, had 
withdrawn to Charlotte, N. C. ; while the new 
force, under J. E. Johnston (who had been reap- 
pointed to command in the region), had not yet 
been reached. Sherman's course now lay in the 
direction of Fayetteville, whence it was his design 
to make for the important railroad center of Golds- 
boro, N. C, due north from Wilmington. At 
Fayetteville, his force was joined by 10,000 men 
of Thomas's army under Schofield, who had just 
taken Wilmington, following up Terry's capture 
of Fort Fisher (Jan. 13, 1865), which cost the 
South a loss of 2,500 men in the attack on and 
storming of the citadel. On the way to Golds- 
boro, the Federal raiding columns had some 
sharp fighting with Hardee's division of Confed- 
erate cavalry, which attempted to check Sher- 
man's advance, aided by a force of 10,000 infan- 
try ; while Johnston's army (now about 40,000 
strong), was within comparative reach in the 
vicinity of Bentonsville. 

On the 15th of March, Hardee gave Sherman 
battle at Averysboro, N. C, on Cape Fear river. 



246 LIFE OF GENBRAL LEE. 

forty miles south of Ealeigh. Here Hardee had 
entrenched his command, to oppose Sherman and 
to allow Johnston time to concentrate his forces, 
which he was then doing at Smithfield, so as to 
make an obstinate stand against the advancing 
column of Federal raiders. The affair at Averys- 
boro lasted all day, and was a sanguinary one 
(Sherman losing 600 in killed and wounded) ; and 
at nightfall — the Confederates withdrew behind 
their interior lines of defense. In the morning, 
the Federals found that the enemy had silently 
retired from the place, and had fallen back to 
Smithfield, all save a few men, who became Sher- 
man's prisoners. The expedition then pursued 
its way towards Goldsboro : but at Bentonville, 
within seventeen miles from that center, the left 
wing of the army, under General Slocum, en- 
countered Johnston's command on the morning 
of the 19 th, Johnston here being tempted to attack 
a portion of the advance expeditionary force before 
the bulk of it reached the spot. Slocum, taken by 
surprise, at first fell back ; but, rallying, he made 
a stout stand and sheltered his force behind hastily 
thrown up rifle-pits, Kilpatrick's cavalry enabling 
him effectively to do so. As Johnston failed to dis- 
lodge the Federals from their defensive line, and, 
fearing the approach of Sherman's other columns, 



OPERA.TIONS IN THE WINTER OF 1864-5. 247 

he, too, began to fortify his position, meantime mak- 
ing several forceful attacks upon the foe. On the 
morning of the 21st, Sherman's right wing came 
upon the scene, and the day was spent in pressing 
Johnston hard on three sides of his position and 
close up to his works. As the day's fighting had 
cost him heavy losses, Johnston deemed it more 
tactical to retreat from the place, which he 
did over night, withdrawing to Smithfield and 
Ealeigh. The Confederate losses at Bentonsville 
were heavy, amounting to close upon 2,000 in 
killed and wounded, besides 670 taken prisoners. 
The Federal loss was upward of 1,650, in killed, 
wounded, and missing. Early on the 22nd inst., 
Sherman's columns moved on to Goldsboro, whith- 
er Schofield's command had preceded them from 
Fayetteville, and after that general had occupied 
Wilmington (Feb. 22), and fought the battle of 
Kinston, N. C. (March 8-10). Here, at Goldsboro, 
practically ended Sherman's great march, though 
we find him later (April 13) at Ealeigh, and to- 
wards the end of that month, after Lee's surrender 
at Appomattox, it was Sherman who received the 
surrender of General J. E. Johnston's army, on 
the terms accorded to Lee by General Grant. A 
month later, Sherman reached Washington, 
where he was received with great eclat y and where. 



248 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

after a grand review of his army, the latter was 
disbanded ; while he himself was given command 
of the Military Division of the Mississippi, and 
subsequently that of Missouri, with the rank of 
lieutenant-general. 



CHAPTEE XVIL 

THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 

The South at this juncture of affairs was now 
in extremis ; her chief seaports, as we have seen, 
were either captured or closely blockaded, and 
her cotton, the chief commodity of exchange with 
Europe, could get no outlet ; while her financial 
credit was gone, Confederate paper money at the 
period being so valueless that it took $500 to pur- 
chase a pair of army boots. Nor was the situ ation 
in Virginia any less hopeless, for Lee could get no 
substantial addition to his now dwindled com- 
mand, or food or pay for his men ; while after 
Johnston's defeat at Bentonville, Sherman was 
in the main free to menace Lee's army from the 
South. Emancipation for the slave, moreover, 
had so altered the condition of labor in the South 
that this became extremely irksome to the planter ; 
while the recruiting of the negro, and his enrol- 
ment in Northern regiments, added to the despond- 
ency, and even despair, now manifesting itself 

throughout the Confederacy. The sole reliance 

249 



250 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

at this crisis was still in General Lee and his 
veterans on the James, and what he was able to 
do — little as it could possibly be— he, we may be 
certain, would surely accomplish. Certain it is, 
that our hero was the one public man whom 
the South unqualifiedly believed in and trusted ; 
whose abilities, of a rare and uncommon order, 
everywhere elicited the highest commendation ; 
whose integrity was unimpeachable ; and who, 
moreover, — despite the pall of darkness that now 
hung over the country — continued ever hopeful 
and buoyant, as well as devotedly loyal, and 
sincerely desirous of helping to a favorable issue 
the cause which every leal Southerner had in his 
inmost heart. 

How earnestly Lee strove at this time to dispel 
despondency and check desertions from the ranks, 
as well as to give tone to public sentiment favor- 
able to the Southern cause, may be seen from the 
appended letter which the General, towards the 
close of February (1865), addressed to Governor 
Vance of North Carolina. The period is that 
when Sherman was conducting his spirited raid 
through the Carolinas, and this was evidently in 
Lee's mind when he wrote, as perhaps the chief 
inciting cause of the prevailing despondency. 
Here is the letter : 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 251 

'^ The state of despondency that now prevails 
among our people is producing a bad effect upon 
the troops. Desertions are becoming very fre- 
quent, and there is good reason to believe that 
they are occasioned, to a considerable extent, by 
letters written to the soldiers by their friends at 
home. . . I think some good can be accomplished 
by the efforts of influential citizens to change 
public sentiment, and cheer the hearts of the 
people. It has been discovered that despondent 
persons represent to their friends in the army 
that our cause is hopeless, and that they had 
better provide for themselves. They state that 
the number of deserters is so large in the several 
counties that there is no danger to be appre- 
hended from the home-guard. The deserters 
generally take their arms with them : the greater 
number are from regiments from the western 
part of the State. So far as the despondency of 
the people occasions this sad condition of affairs, 
I know of no other means of removing it than by 
the counsel and exhortation of prominent citizens. 
If they would explain to the people that the cause 
is not hopeless, that the situation of affairs, though 
critical, is so to the enemy as well as ourselves, 
that he has drawn his troops from every other 
quarter to accomplish his designs against Rich- 



252 LIFE OF GENEllAL LEE. 

mond, and that his defeat now would result in 
leaving nearly our whole territory open to us ; 
that this great result can be accomplished if all 
will work diligently, and that his successes are far 
less valuable in fact than in appearance, — I think 
our sorely tried people would be induced to make 
one more effort to bear their sufferings a little 
longer, and regain some of the spirit that marked 
the first two years of the war." 

Alas ! this hopeful, inspiriting, and eminently 
patriotic letter was a fruitless one, as the South- 
ern cause was now fast becoming '*a lost cause," 
which the events of the following four or five 
weeks were emphatically to prove. Yet, mani- 
festly, it might have been otherwise, had all in 
the Confederacy been as earnest and strenuous- 
in the purpose to make it a successful, rather 
than a lost, cause, as was Eobert E. Lee ; and 
had the Fates been less adverse in environing 
him and his veterans on the James, as they were 
environed, not only by the numerically superior 
forces of Grant, but by the returning to the 
latter's command of Sheridan and his most efficient 
cavalry force, and by the approaching from the 
south of Sherman's army, flush with victory, and 
strong in the success that had attended his 
march through the heart of the Confederacy. 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 253 

In spite of the menacing aspect of affairs, Lee, 
nevertheless, was full of the hope of yet bright- 
ening the situation for his section of the country, 
by, if possible, effecting a union with General 
J.E. Johnston's command in North Carolina, and 
there falling upon Sherman and his army on 
their way North — thus abandoning Petersburg 
and Eichmond, while the Confederate Govern- 
ment, as Lee desired, was to remove from the 
Virginia capital to Danville, on the southern 
frontier of the State, and there reestablish itself 
and the Confederate Administration. To the 
achieving of the purpose which lay deep in the 
heart and mind of the heroic leader. Heaven, we 
shall presently see, was not propitious ; though 
what was possible for Lee to do, in at least stav- 
ing off for a while the end, which was soon now 
to come, he bravely and untiringly sought to 
accomplish. 

Meanwhile, Lee's great adversary, Grant, was 
alert in his attitude towards the critical South- 
ern situation — one which, he tells us in his 
^^ Personal Memoirs," was the most anxious 
period of his experience during the Eebellion — 
as he saw that it would result in Lee's retire- 
ment from Petersburg, and the abandonment 
of Richmond, both of which he properly under- 



254 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

took to prevent, or tactically to checkmate. 
With the approach of Spring (1865), and the 
drying up of the roads along the thirty odd miles 
of the offensive and defensive lines ahout Peters- 
burg, each of the respective generals in chief com- 
mand was preparing for decisive action, an account 
of which it now becomes our duty to relate. 

On the Southern side, the month of March, 
which had by this time come, brought matters 
to a crisis in evolving plans for the evacuation 
of Petersburg and its defenses by Lee, and the 
withdrawal of the remains of his army (now only 
about 30,000 in number) to the mountain regions 
of the South. Here, as we have already men- 
tioned, he hoped to effect a junction with Johns- 
ton, and thus put himself in a better position to 
cope with Grant and the converging columns 
under Sherman, whose combined strength, at 
this time, would be more than 230,000 effective 
men. Before setting out from Petersburg, Lee, 
however, projected an assault on Grant's center 
line, at a vulnerable position on the south side 
of the Appomattox, protected by the Federal Fort 
Stedman. The assault was made by the Second 
Confederate corps, under General Gordon, 
supported, or intended to be supported, by a 
part of Longstreet's division and other contin- 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 255 

gents of the ^^ rebel" army. The attack began 
at dawn on the 25th of March, and when 
Gordon's storming party issued forth it rapidly 
crossed the Federal entrenchments and captured 
the Fort. Here, however, it was exposed to a 
heavy Federal fire from the forts on either side 
of it, which the attacking force was unable to 
silence ; nor was it able to take them, owing to 
the tardy coming up of the supports, which were 
designed not only to reenforce the storming party, 
but to move on and take a strong position held 
by the enemy on the heights in rear of Fort Sted- 
man. The tardiness in the arrival of the sup- 
ports proved fatal to the whole movement, as 
advantage was instantly taken of the pause that 
ensued upon the seizure of and flight of the 
Federals from the Fort to pour a deadly fire from 
the ridge-crest in rear upon Gordon's assaulting 
column. Demoralization in the latter was the 
result, followed by a stampede of all the Con- 
federates in the Fort and its immediate vicinity ; 
while the Federals, having now recovered from 
their surprise at the unexpected seizure and 
occupation of the Fort, came back in force and 
retook the citadel, capturing about 2,000 of the 
assaulting columns?* Besides the captured, the 
Confederates lost in the attack nearly 1,000 in 



^56 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

killed and wounded ; while the Federal loss all 
told, was close upon 2,000. A further Con- 
federate loss, before the day's operations were 
over, was a portion of Lee's defense line nearest 
to the enemy. This, in the confusion that 
followed the repulse from Fort Stedman, had 
been snatched from the '^ rebel " pickets, though 
only after a stubborn resistance. The counter- 
attack and advance of the Federal lines was 
done at the bidding, and with the oversight, of 
General Meade. 

Anticipating that the Confederates, after the 
failure of the assault on Fort Stedman, would 
abandon their lines at Petersburg and retire 
from the place. Grant took the precaution to 
instruct his several cavalry commands to care- 
fully guard all roads by which Lee might seek to 
withdraw his army ; while he was himself in- 
creasingly watchful of every movement, or sign 
of movement, along the enemy's far-extended 
lines. Beyond this, Grant had formed designs 
against the Confederate right, and that by a 
massed movement to his own left in great force. 
In this he was aided by Sheridan, with his cavalry 
division, after that skilled raider's destroying 
march through Central Virginia, and who, with 
his command, had returned to duty at Petersburg, 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 257 

or rather, near by, at Dinwiddle Court-House. 
The Federal assault was arranged for the 29th 
of March, when General Ord (Butler's successor), 
who had previously been sent out, with three 
divisions of infantry and McKenzie's cavalry, to 
the extreme left of Grant's line, was to cooperate 
with Generals Warren and Humphreys, with the 
Second and Fifth Union corps, in an advance, by 
way of Hatcher's Eun, upon Five Forks. Here 
they were instructed to seize the South Side rail- 
road, over which Lee received his army's meager 
supplies, and also fall upon the Danville railroad. 
At Five Forks, Sheridan was simultaneously to 
arrive and there take part in falling upon the 
Confederate right. 

While these designs were being carried out 
against Lee's right flank, General Wright's 
corps was to make a concerted assault upon the 
weakened Confederate center. Much of the entire 
movement was, however, delayed for several days 
by heavy rains and the consequently bad state of 
the roads, over which it was found extremely dif- 
ficult to move the Federal artillery ; it was also 
harassed by constant conflicts with the watchful 
Confederate cavalry. Especially did Sheridan 
suffer from the latter, as well as from the attacks 
of the ^* rebel" unmounted men, by whom, in. 



258 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

fact, he was driven from Five Forks back to Din- 
widdie, where he called upon Grant to send him 
assistance. The Federal leader met his request 
by despatching Warren and his command to him, 
but the latter was so dilatory in his movements 
that he was relieved of his command of the Fifth 
corps, and its control was given to Griffin. With 
Griffin's assistance, Sheridan now renewed his 
assault upon the Confederates, chiefly under 
Pickett and Bushrod Johnson, at Five Forks, 
where, on April 1st, Pickett was outflanked and 
beaten by Sheridan. The situation was now a 
forlorn one for Lee, who, nevertheless, stoutly 
braced himself to cope with the difficulties of the 
position, as well as to enhearten his troops, already 
wearied with the burden of guarding a defense 
line thirty miles in length, and that, for the most 
part, on ill-filled stomachs and amid every discom- 
fort from the raw, wet weather. 

When the assault on the Confederate center (in 
front of Petersburg) was developed, tlie position 
of things became desperate, for that portion of 
Lee's attenuated line had been greatly weakened 
to protect his menaced right flank, which, by this 
time, *^ had been torn from its position and hurled 
back." An all-night bombardment of the South- 
ern entrenchments and the city of Petersburg 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 259 

found the Confederates, on the morning of April 
2nd, in little condition further to hold its posi- 
tion, far less to meet, with accustomed ^' rebel " 
bravery and vigor, the general assault which was 
now about to be made. Nevertheless, as is stated 
in an authority (that of J. D. McCabe, in his 
'^ Life and campaigns of Robert E. Lee "), *^ Gen- 
eral Lee was resolved to make one more effort to 
save the city." 

From the source just named, we extract an 
interesting account of the battle that ensued. 
'^Sunday, the 2nd of April, dawned bright and 
clear. With the first light of morning the Fed- 
eral columns of attack advanced upon the South- 
ern works, and the engagement quickly spread 
along the whole line from the Appomattox to 
Hatcher's Eun. The left of the Southern posi- 
tion rested on the Appomattox, and was held by 
General Gordon's corps. This weak force was at- 
tacked by the 9th Federal corps, under General 
Parke, and after a brief but gallant struggle the 
Confederates gave way, and the enemy carried 
the outer line. Gordon's troops fell back to an 
inner cordon of works just on the city limits, 
where they were quickly in line again. The 9th 
corps, pressing on, attempted to carry these works 
also, but was repulsed in all its efforts. 



260 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

*'To the right of Gordon, A. P. Hill's com- 
mand was in position, and against this part of the 
Southern line the 6th Federal corps was thrown 
in an impetuous charge. Hill's left was the 
weakest part of the whole position, as the in- 
fantry for its defense (McG-owan's brigade) had 
been withdrawn on the previous day, and the 
works were held only by the artillerists, with a 
slim picket line in front. The 6th corps drove in 
the pickets, and, sweeping forward, captured the 
works, the batteries, and artillerymen. 

*' The movements of the 9th and 6th corps were 
simultaneous, and the success of the latter threat- 
ened the Confederate army with the most serious 
disaster. Wright's corps had completely broken 
the left of Hill's line, and threatened to push right 
through to the river, and cut the Southern force 
in two. The danger was increased by the attack 
of the corps, which, as soon as the 6th had carried 
Hill's works, stormed the redoubts on Hatcher's 
Eun, and drove the small force of Confederates 
holding them beyond Sutherland's Station, on 
the South Side railroad. Then, uniting with 
the 6th and 24th corps, it completed the Federal 
line, which, swinging round, steadily closed in 
upon Petersburg. 

" Fortunately, there were just in rear of the 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 261 

redoubts captured by the 6tli corps two strong 
enclosed works, covering the ground over which 
the enemy must advance to reach the river. 
These works were held by only a handful of men. 
Fort Alexander was nearer the enemy, and was 
garrisoned by a less devoted force than the other. 
As soon as the Federals had re-formed their line, 
they made a heavy charge forward, and carried 
the works with a rush, not, however, without a 
spirited struggle on the part of the defenders. 

" There remained now only the other work — 
Fort Gregg — and this it was necessary to hold to 
the last extremity, in order that General Lee 
might have time to occupy his new position 
around the city. If the fort fell before that was 
accomplished, the army was lost. The garrison 
of Fort Gregg consisted of the 4:th Maryland 
battery, with two 3-inch rifles and thirty men, a 
body of dismounted artillery drivers — Virginians 
and Louisianians — who had been armed with 
muskets, part of Harris's Mississippi brigade, and 
some North Carolinians — in all 250 men ; the 
whole being under the command of Captain 
Chew of the Maryland battery. The critical 
situation of the army was known to this little 
band of heroes, and they silently resolved to pur- 
chase the safety of their comrades with their lives. 



262 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

"As soon as Fort Alexander was captured, 
General Ord advanced Gibbon's division to storm 
and carry Fort Gregg, and break through to the 
city. Gibbon's column approached in fine order, 
and by its strength alone seemed about to envelop 
the work. Moving on rapidly it neared the fort, 
the Confederates suffering it to come within 
less than fifty yards. Then, by a well-directed 
volley, they sent the enemy reeling back across 
the ground they had passed over. The whole 
affair could be directly seen by both armies, and 
the repulse of the Federals was greeted by loud 
cheers from the Confederates in the inner line. 
Still no aid could be sent to the brave garrison, 
whose only hope was to die in the presence of 
the comrades they were trying to save. Both 
armies ceased firing at other points and every eye 
was fixed on the fight at Fort Gregg. 

"Eallying his forces, Gibbon made another 
desperate attempt to carry the fort, but was 
again repulsed. A third charge met with the 
same fate, and for a while there sprang up in the 
hearts of the gazers at the city a wild hope that 
the fort would be held in spite of the heavy odds 
against it. Vain hope ! At seven o'clock the 
Federals made a last charge, and this time suc- 
ceeded in reaching the ditch. Many clambered to 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 263 

the top of the works, but were beaten back by the 
clubbed muskets of the defenders, while the guns 
were fired rapidly through the embrasures. The 
pressure in front was too strong to be resisted, 
and the enemy swarmed into the works, crushing 
the garrison by their weight. The fort was taken, 
but the heroic defenders had reason to be proud of 
its defense. Out of the 250 men present when the 
action began, but 30 survived. There were none 
missing ; the dead and wounded made up the dire 
list. They had inflicted a loss of between 500 and 
600 men upon their captors, or two Federals for 
each one of the 250 Confederates. Nor was the 
sacrifice vain. Fort Gregg was taken at a little 
after seven in the morning, and the two hours 
gained by its defense enabled General Lee to 
bring up his troops and occupy his last line around 
Petersburg. 

** The enemy did not resume their advance im- 
mediately, but spent the next two hours in oc- 
cupying the entire country towards the Appo- 
mattox, throwing their cavalry out on their left 
to the South Side railroad and the river above 
the city. 

'^ Towards ten o'clock, General Lee received a 
small reenf orcement. Early on the morning of the 
2nd, General Longstreet had discovered the weak- 



264: LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

ness of the Federals in his front, and had marched 
promptly with Benning's brigade of Field's divi- 
sion, less than 300 strong. He reached the battle- 
field just as the enemy — a few minutes before ten 
o'clock — moved forward again to force an entrance 
to the city. Longstreet instantly brought Ben- 
ning's brigade into action, and by his bold and 
skillful handling of it checked the enemy's ad- 
vance until General Lee could hurry troops 
to its assistance, when the line was occupied and 
firmly held. 

**The Confederates now occupied a short, but 
very strong line, extending immediately around 
Petersburg, with the right flank resting on the 
river above, and the left on the same stream be- 
low the city. Against this line the enemy now 
made repeated assaults, but they were met and 
repulsed at every point. Not only were the Fed- 
erals everywhere thrown back in their efforts to 
advance, but Heth's division, under the immediate 
direction of General A. P. Hill, was ordered to 
recover some commanding ground held by the 
9th Federal corps on the Southern left, near the 
river. Hill made his attack with great spirit, and 
pressed the 9th corps so hard with his little com- 
mand, that the Federals were forced to bring up 
the garrison of the works at City Point to aid 



THE CLOSE OF THE LONG STRUGGLE. 265 

them iu maintaining their ground. The enemy 
held their position, and the Southern troops were 
withdrawn. Among the killed was Lieut. -General 
A. P. Hill. He had passed with high honor 
through the whole war up to this period, with but 
a slight wound, and fell now a victim to the 
chivalrous daring for which he was always dis- 
tinguished. 

*' Thus the day closed, with the Confederates in 
possession of Petersburg. But it was far from 
General Lee's intention to attempt to hold the 
city longer. Such a course would involve the 
capture or destruction of his army, and all that 
remained to him now was to abandon both Eich- 
mond and Petersburg, and endeavor to join John- 
ston near Danville. It was no longer possible to re- 
treat by the south bank of the Appomattox, for all 
the roads were in possession of the enemy, and 
now the march must be made by the longer 
route north of the river." 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

THE RETIREMENT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICH- 
MOND. 

By this time, when the outer works of Peters- 
burg were in possession of the Federal forces, and 
Grant was preparing for the morrow's work of 
continuing the assault on the city, Lee had com- 
municated the condition of affairs, and his inten- 
tion to retire from his lines, to President Davis at 
Richmond, suggesting that the capital should be 
immediately evacuated and the seat of Govern- 
ment transferred to Danville. Though it would 
have been fatuous, after the abandonment of 
Petersburg, to maintain Confederate control and 
authority at Richmond, the announcement of 
withdrawal from it came as a crushing blow to 
its citizens, since it meant abandoning the city to 
Northern occupation, and possible destruction or 
pillage. What it immediately meant, they soon 
saw with their own eyes, viz., the blowing up of 
the city's great warehouses, full of cotton and 
tobacco, to prevent them becoming the spoil of 

266 



RETREAT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 2G7 

the enemy ; besides the destruction of the Con- 
federate iron-clads on the James River and other 
Government property and stores within the city's 
precincts ; the withdrawal of General Ewell's de- 
fensive command of 4,000 troops, and the certain 
moving in of the Federal general, Weitzel, and 
his besieging cohorts, as soon as Ewell and the 
Administration moved out. The crisis ere long 
came, with the conflagration of the tobacco ware- 
houses, which, unhappily, extended to many 
valuable portions of Eichmond, and the abandon- 
ing of the city to loot by the worthless scum of 
the population. ^^ Thus fell the capital of the 
Confederacy," observes the historian from whom 
we have already quoted, ^Hhat for four years had 
withstood all the efforts of the enemy. It went 
down in a sea of suffering and sorrow such as 
it had never known before." It remains only to 
add, that Richmond, on the morning of the 3rd 
(April, 1865), was surrendered by its mayor to the 
Federal commander. General Weitzel, who took 
immediate possession, and humanely ordered his 
troops to arrest the conflagration and restore 
order, while he sought to relieve distress among 
the more necessitous of the citizens. 

At Petersburg, when Grant became aware of 
Lee's retreat from the place and the route he had 



268 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

chosen to take in withdrawing in the direction of 
Amelia Court House, he pushed forward the 
mass of his army (about 75,000) in pursuit. The 
pursuing force, headed by Sheridan's cavalry, and 
followed by the Union infantry and artillery, was 
directed to march with all speed to the line of the 
Kichmond and Danville K. K., north of Burkes- 
ville, there, if possible, to intercept Lee and his 
fugitive army. Already, other points of possible 
escape had been closed to Lee, and this he, of 
course, knew ; but he thought that, by rapid 
marching, he could reach Amelia Court House, 
and from there strike south to Danville, and, if 
practicable, effect his long-planned junction with 
General J. E. Johnston. One object, and an im- 
perative one, that now took him to Amelia Court 
House, was to procure food for his half-famished 
men, for they had eaten nothing since the retreat 
began, save some handf uls of parched corn. Here 
the thoughtful leader had instructed the Confed- 
erate commissary-general to forward a provision- 
train, for the exigencies of the calculated day of 
arrival ; but, to the indignation of General Lee 
and the dismay of the troops, it was found that 
the train with the supplies had gone on to Rich- 
mond, without stopping to unload the provisiozas 
at the Court House, so that it might assist in 



RETREAT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 269 

removing the Government property from the old 
to the new, temporary capital at Danville. The 
mishap was a terrible, as it was an irremediable, 
one, for little local food could be had ; and such 
as could be gathered over a wide area occasioned 
an enforced delay, which proved, in part, fatal to 
the retreating Confederates. 

But, to return for a brief moment to events at 
Petersburg, let us relate that, on the morning of 
the 3rd of April, when Grant had been apprised 
of the Confederate abandonment of the place and 
had set his army in motion to pursue them, he 
ordered General Humphreys, with the Second 
Union corps and a pontoon train, and General Ord, 
with the Sixth and Ninth corps, to renew the 
attack on the city. At this juncture, the Federal 
skirmishers reported that the Confederate lines 
were deserted, and a column being sent forward, 
and meeting with no opposition, it advanced to 
Petersburg and took possession of it. Leaving a 
garrison in occupancy, Grant now turned to join 
his army in its pursuit of Lee, who, as we have 
seen, had reached Amelia Court House, though 
with his forces considerably scattered in search 
of food and forage. Just before this, the re- 
treating Confederates had been joined by the 
division of General Mahone and the troops that 



270 LIFE OF GENEIfAL LEE. 

had held the line south of the James, in front of 
Bermuda Hundreds, as well as by Swell's com- 
mand, that had been withdrawn from the lines 
about Eichmond. The addition of these, with 
their several baggage transports and artillery, 
increased the unwieldiness of the m^ss in retreat, 
as well as made it more difficult to provide for the 
men and horses that had to be fed and cared for 
on the way. Nor was this all that Lee at this 
juncture had to contend with, for by this time 
(the evening of the 5th of April), when the march 
from Amelia Court House was resumed, the en- 
emy's cavalry hung closely about his wearied 
columns and had to be constantly fought off ; 
while many of the impeding wagons had to be 
burned en route, and many heavy guns buried, 
which could not be borne along, so exhausted were 
the horses and mules attached to them. As a 
narrator (Francis Lawley) of the harrowing inci- 
dent of the retreat describes : 

^^It is easy to see that the locomotion of an 
army in such a plight must have been slow and 
slower. The retreat was conducted in the follow- 
ing fashion : About midnight the Confederates 
slipped out of their hasty works, which they had 
thrown up and held during the previous day, and 
fell back until ten or eleven o'clock the next 



EETREAT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 271 

morning. Then they halted, and immediately 
threw up earthworks for their protection during 
the day. It was not long before the wolves were 
again on their heels, and from their earthworks 
the Confederates exchanged a heavy fire with 
their pursuers throughout the day. Delayed by 
the necessity of guarding a train from thirty-five 
to forty miles in length, enfeebled by hunger 
and sleeplessness, the retreating army was able to 
make only ten miles each night. This delay en- 
abled the active Sheridan to get ahead with his 
cavalry, and to destroy the provisions along the 
railroad between Burkesville and Danville. Up- 
on the 5th, many of the mules and horses ceased 
to struggle, when it became necessary to burn 
hundreds of wagons. Towards evening of the 
5th, and all day long upon the 6th, hundreds of 
men dropped from exhaustion, and thousands let 
fall their muskets from inability to carry them any 
farther. The scenes of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 
were of a nature which can be apprehended in its 
vivid reality only by men who are thoroughly fa- 
miliar with the harrowing details of war. Behind, 
and on either flank, were ubiquitous and increas- 
ingly adventurous troops — every mud-hole and 
rise in the road choked with blazing wagons — 
the air filled with the deafening reports of am- 



^72 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

munition exploding, and shells bursting when 
touched by the flames — dense columns of smoke 
ascending to heaven from the burning and explod- 
ing vehicles — exhausted men, worn-out mules and 
horses, lying down side by side — gaunt famine 
glaring hopelessly from sunken, lack-luster eyes — 
dead men, dead horses, dead mules, everywhere — 
death, many times welcomed as God's blessing in 
disguise, — who can wonder if many hearts, tried 
in the fiery furnace of four years' unparalleled 
suffering, and never hitherto found wanting, 
should have quailed in presence of starvation, 
fatigue, sleeplessness, misery — unintermitted for 
five or six days, and culminating in hopeless- 
ness ? " 

This narrative of the retreat of the Army of 
Northern Virginia is a painfully realistic, but not 
overdrawn, one ; and, in proof of that, we need 
but mention the fact of the dwindling numbers 
of Lee's forces, as well as the perils by the way, 
in its withdrawal from the late scenes of its opera- 
tions. On the morning of the 6th, Meade having 
joined Sheridan at Jetersville, they together 
moved upon Amelia Court House, with the pur- 
pose of giving Lee battle. The latter, however, 
having been brought news of the enemy's design, 
branched off toward Farraville, by way of Dea- 



RETREAT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 273 

tonsville, and for the time gave them the sHp. 
When this happened, Grant instructed General 
Ord to take the direct road to Farmville, and there 
block Lee's onward path ; while Sheridan swiftly 
pursued the Confederate columns on the road they 
had taken, and came upon them at Sailor's Creek, 
a minor tributary of the Appomattox. On the 
way after the fugitives, the Federal general made 
repeated onslaughts upon their columns, but was 
constantly beaten off. Presently, however, he 
found a weak spot in the retreating line, in 
Pickett's command, which was guarding a por- 
tion of Lee's long train ; and on this Sheridan fell 
with three of his divisions, and captured a number 
of the Confederates, besides taking from them 
sixteen pieces of artillery and destroying 400 
wagons. 

In his dire extremity, and to enable him to 
save the remainder of the column attacked, 
Pickett summoned General Ewell to his assist- 
ance, who at once came upon the scene with re- 
enforcements to the number of 4,200 men. While 
Ewell was coming up, it was unfortunately found 
that the rearguard, consisting of General Gordon's 
corps, had branched off another road, so as to 
evade trouble from Sheridan's attacks ; and this 
escape of Gordon lessened the chances of the com- 



274 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

bined forces of Pickett and Ewell withstanding 
Sheridan successfully. It was also found that, 
while Ewell was preparing for what he saw must 
be a stiff fight, the enemy had occupied the high 
ground about him and cut him off from the re- 
mainder of the retreating columns. The situa- 
tion of the command was, hence, a desperate one, 
but, despite the fact, Ewell resolved to give 
battle, and sell his own and his men's lives dearly. 
Meanwhile, heavy reenforcements came forward 
for Sheridan, and in the conflict that ensued 
Pickett's division was worsted and put to flight, 
leaving Ewell and his veterans to cope alone with 
the enemy. This they gallantly did, and for a 
time so successfully, that the 6th Unionist corps 
was driven back before the sharp Confederate fire. 
The broken Federal line was presently, however, 
rallied and re-formed, when it renewed the attack, 
and now with such effect that Ewell's men were 
surrounded by overpowering numbers and com- 
pelled to throw down their arms and surrender. 
When this disaster overtook Ewell, he had himself 
no other recourse than to submit to be made a 
prisoner with his command ; while three other 
general officers, including Custis Lee, at the same 
time fell into the hands of the enemy. 

With the dispersion of Pickett's division, and. 



RETREAT FROM PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND. 275 

the capture or breaking up also of the commands 
under Anderson and Bushrod Johnson, Lee's 
army, when it reached Farmville, was reduced to 
10,000 men, less than a fifth of the strength of 
the pursuing Federals. At Farmville, the little 
band, however, was enabled to get food ; and, 
when it had driven off General Ord's command, 
here engaged in destroying the bridges, it passed 
on a few miles, and on the night of the 6th of 
April crossed the Appomattox at High Bridge, 
where it bivouacked ; while Lee summoned Long- 
street, Gordon, Pendleton, and other of his chief 
officers to a camp-fire council to consider the 
situation. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

grant's peace-overtures to lee, and the sur- 
render AT APPOMATTOX. 

The end of strife, obviously now, drew very- 
near ; and Lee, though he did not shirk further 
fighting, in the cause he had so long, earnestly, 
and bravely borne a conspicuous part, naturally 
wished now to steal off from his environing foes 
and reach Appomattox Court House. There he 
expected to obtain supplies to enable him to push 
on with his little shrunken but faithful band to 
the Staunton River, and at that point *' maintain 
himself behind the stream until a junction could 
be made with Johnston." On the afternoon of 
April 8, he, however, learned that the supplies at 
the Court House had been captured, and that 
the enemy were in strong force about the place. 
This was disconcerting news to Lee ; but it did 
not cause him to hesitate in his course, which was 
to divest himself of all impedimenta and cut his 
way through the Federal lines, and so escape 

276 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 277 

from the entanglement he and his loyal followers 
found themselves in. 

The idea of surrender, which had been favored 
at the camp-fire council with his general officers, 
was naturally repugnant to Lee ; and, while a 
chance of escape remained, equally opposed was 
he to the notion of disbandment, which would 
expose his men to almost certain capture, as well 
as disappointment and misery in their search for 
food. The responsibility of continuing actively 
in the field was, of course, acutely felt by the 
gallant leader ; and he keenly sympathized with 
the discomforts and sufferings of his troops, 
though he would not, as yet, bring himself to 
resort to or justify surrender, with honor. To 
accept the latter, when it was proposed by his 
corps-commanders in council, instantly aroused 
the martial spirit of the heroic general, and 
elicited the retort : ^^ Surrender! I have too many 
good fighting men for that." At this crisis, his 
anxieties were great, but chiefly for the leal and 
true men under him, as well as for the women 
and children of the South, of whose fate, in the 
emergencies of the time and their issues, he had 
constant and patriotic thought. Fits of sadness 
could not fail to come upon him, just then, as we 
see in his remark, when evidently thinking of 



278 LII'E OF GENERAL LEE. 

exposing himself as a soldier to death on the field 
of battle. " How easily I could get rid of this," 
he said, ^^and be at rest: I have only to ride 
along the line and all will be over. But it is our 
duty to live ! " 

On the morning of April 7th, the Confederates 
resumed their march from High Bridge, where 
we had left them in bivouac, towards Farmville, 
with the design of reaching Appomattox Court 
House ; thence, if practicable, to push on to Lynch- 
burg. On withdrawing fro.m High Bridge, an 
attempt was made to fire the bridges at the place, 
so as to impede the enemy's crossing in pursuit. 
In this, however, the Confederates were, in part, 
thwarted by the coming up of the Second Federal 
corps. The latter dashed forward and saved the 
bridges from entire destruction, while at the same 
time it fell upon the '^ rebel " rearguard and the 
remains of its wagon train, which were speedily 
taken ; though General Gordon here turned upon 
the enemy and drove them off, capturing about 
200 prisoners. For the remainder of the day, the 
retreat was unmolested, save for periodic dashes 
of the Federal cavalry ; and late in the afternoon 
brought Lee's wearied command to a strong de- 
fensive position north of Farmville, covering the 
main road to Lynchburg. Here a halt was or- 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 270 

dered for a brief rest, and to hold the pursuing 
enemy in check until night- fall, when the retreat 
was intended to be resumed. 

While in bivouac here. General Humphrey's 
command came up to attack the position, but find- 
ing it too strong to be carried by a direct assault 
he sought to carry it by an attack on the flanks. 
This movement enabled Humphreys to discover 
that he had the whole of Lee's army here en- 
sconced, and while sending back for reenforce- 
ments he contented himself by an attempt on the 
Southern left. In this, however, he was repulsed 
with a heavy loss. As night had now come on, 
the forced Federal fighting was discontinued, 
while the Confederates got ready to continue the 
retreat. Before setting out, the leader of the 
Army of Northern Virginia received from Gen- 
eral Grant the first of his overtures for peace, in 
a despatch (dated April 7, 1865), which read 
thus : 

*' General R. E. Lee : 

'' The result of the last week must convince you 
of the hopelessness of further resistance on the 
part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this 
struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my 
duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any 



280 LIFE OF GENEEAL LEE. 

further effusion of blood by asking of you the sur- 
render of that portion of the Confederate States 
army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. 
U. S. Grant, Lieut. -GeneraV^ 

General Lee at once replied to this Federal 
missive as follows : 

April r, 1865. 
^^ General : 

^* I have your note of this date. Though not 
entertaining the opinion you express on the hope- 
lessness of further resistance on the part of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your 
desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
therefore, before considering your proposition, 
ask the terms you will offer on condition of its 

surrender. 

*^ R. E. Lee, General. 

*' Lieut. General U. S. Grant." 

When the latter communication reached Grant's 
hands, the night had been far spent, while the 
Confederates were well on their way to Appomat- 
tox Court House, heading for Lynchburg. On 
the morning of the 8th (April), General Grant at 
once, however, replied to it, and in the following 
terms : 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 281 

April 8, 1865. 
'^ General: 

'* Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of 
the same date, asking the condition on which I 
will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, is just received. In reply, I would say 
that peace being my great desire, there is but one 
condition I would insist upon, namely: that the 
men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified 
for taking up arms again against the Govern- 
ment of the United States until properly ex- 
changed. I will meet you, or will designate offi- 
cers to meet any officers you may name for the 
same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for 
the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon 
which the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia will be received. 

U. S. Grant, Lieut. -General. 

*' General K. E. Lee." 

To this. General Lee made the following re- 
sponse : 

April 8, 1865. 
" General : 

'' I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day. 

In mine of yesterday, I did nob intend to propose 

the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, 



282 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be 
frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to 
call for the surrender of this army ; but, as the 
restoration of peace should be the sole object of 
all, I desired to know whether your proposals 
would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, 
meet you with a view to surrender the Army of 
Northern Virginia ; but, as far as your proposal 
may affect the Confederate forces under my com- 
mand, and tend to the restoration of peace, I 
should be pleased to meet you at ten a.m. to mor- 
row, on the old stage- road to Richmond, between 
the picket lines of the two armies. 

^^ R. E. Lee, General. 
'' Lieut. -General U. S. Grant." 

On the following day. General Grant sent the 
Confederate leader the subjoined reply : 

April 9, 1865. 
'* General : 

^* Your note of yesterday is received. I have 
no authority to treat on the subject of peace ; the 
meeting proposed for 10 A. M. to-day could lead 
to no good. I will state, however. General, that 
I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and 
the whole North entertains the same feeling. The 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 283 

terms upon which peace can be had are well under- 
stood. By the South laying down their arms 
they will hasten that most desirable event, save 
thousands of human lives, and hundreds of mil- 
lions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously 
hoping that all our difficulties may be settled 
without the loss of another life, I subscribe my- 
self, etc., 

'*U. S. Grant, Lieut. -General. 
'^ General E. E. Lee." 

While this correspondence was passing between 
the two leaders of the respective armies, the re- 
treating Confederates had reached Appomattox 
Court House, within twenty-five miles of Lynch- 
burg, which they had gained by the evening of 
April 8. All day, fugitives and pursuers had 
hardly exchanged shots ; though as the ''rebel " 
vanguard neared a narrow strip of land between 
the Appomattox and the James rivers, the sound 
of heavy firing was borne down from the front, 
and the conclusion was instantly, and correctly, 
reached that the further advance of the Confed- 
erate columns was cut off. The firing, as it 
quickly transpired, came from Sheridan's com- 
mand, which, after a rapid circuitous march, 
had reached the vanguard of the retreating force. 



284 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

and was then engaged in capturing a train or two 
of cars, filled with food and supplies for Confede- 
rate consumption from Lynchhurg. With the 
great raider's cavalry force had also come up 
General Ord's infantry division, and both barred 
the further advance of Lee's wearied and now 
feeble army, and what remained of the Confede- 
rate wagon transport. 

At this new menace, when there was little will 
or ability among the men to confront it with 
vigor, the Confederates must have been appalled ; 
but not so was their brave leader, who, with 
characteristic will-power and decision, ordered that 
a passage-way be cut on the morrow through all 
obstacles, and this perilous task was entrusted 
to General Gordon. 

On the morning's dawn (the memorable 9th of 
April), Gordon made ready his cutting-out force, 
and, after a brief reconnaissance, led a smart at- 
tack upon the Federals, whom he at first drove 
back, but was in turn compelled to recoil from the 
superior force brought up to defend the place and 
hem in the Confederate army. Finding that he 
could not force a passage-way, or even hold his 
ground with safety, Gordon sent word back to 
General Lee of the straits he was in, and advis- 
ing him of his having been effectively checkmated 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 285 

by the enemy. Apprised of the situation, and 
seeing no way out of it except at the sacrifice of 
much life, which he was now unwilling to make, 
the Confederate commander-in-chief concluded 
that the time had at last come to surrender. He 
therefore hastened forward a flag of truce to 
General Sheridan, seeking a suspension of hostili- 
ties with a view to surrender, and at the same 
time penned and despatched the following com- 
munication to General Grant : 



April 9, 1865. 
" General : 

'* I received your note this morning on the 

picket line, whither I had come to meet you and 

ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in 

your proposition of yesterday with reference to 

the surrender of this army. 

'^^ I now request art interview in accordance with 

the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for 

that purpose. 

"Very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 

"R. E. Lee, General. 

" To Lieut-General Grant, 

*' Commanding the Armies of the United States,^'' 



286 LIFE OF GENEBAL LEE. 

The interview sought hy General Lee was 
promised by the Federal General, as soon as he 
should be apprised of the desired place of meeting. 
Notice of this was forthwith despatched to Gen- 
eral Grant, and the now historic meeting took 
place between the two commanders, in the village 
at Appomattox Court House, at the house of 
Wilmer McLean. Here, after the formal greet- 
ing of the two Generals and their respective staffs, 
the agreement of surrender was drawn up, signed, 
and witnessed ; while the terms of surrender were 
drafted and signed by the Federal Commander, 
and formally accepted, under seal, by the Con- 
federate General, as the subjoined document will 
show : 

" Appomattox Court House, Va. 

April 9, 1865. 
'^ General : 

** In accordance with the substance of my letter 
to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the 
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on 
the following terms, to wit : Eolls of all the of- 
ficers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy 
to be given to an officer designated by me, and 
the other to be retained by such officer or officers 
as you may designate. The officers to give their 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 287 

individual paroles not to take up arms against 
the United States until properly exchanged ; and 
each company or regimental commander to sign 
a like parole for the men of their commands. 
The arms, artillery, and public property to be 
packed and stacked, and turned over to the offi- 
cers appointed by me to receive them. This will 
not embrace the side arms of the officers, or 
their private horses or baggage. This done, each 
officer and man v^ill be allowed to return to his 
home, not to be disturbed by United States au- 
thority so long as they observe their paroles and 
the laws in force where they may reside. 

^'U. S. Grant, Lieut. -General, 
'' General R. E. Lee.'' 

A formal letter, drafted and signed by General 
Lee, was at the interview delivered to General 
Grant, accepting the generous terms of surrender 
and the conditions stipulated to be observed ; while, 
on the following day, Commissioners representing 
both causes met, drafted, and signed the append- 
ed Agreement giving effect to the surrender. 
The names and ranks of the Commissioners on 
each side, it will be observed, are appended at the 
foot of the Agreement, the details of which are 
as follows : 



288 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

"Appomattox Court House, April 10, 1865. 

Agreement entered into this day in regard to 
the Surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia to the United States Authorities : 

" 1st. The troops shall march by brigades and 
detachments to the designated point, stack their 
arms, deposit their flags, sabers, pistols, etc., 
and then march to their homes under charge of 
their officers, superintended by their respective 
division and corps commanders, officers retaining 
their side-arms and the authorized number of 
private horses. 

*' 2nd. All public horses and public property of 
all kinds to be turned over to staff officers, to be 
designated by the United States authorities." 

*'3rd. Such transportation as may be agreed 
upon as necessary for the transportation of the 
private baggage of officers will be allowed to ac- 
company the officers, to be turned over at the end 
of the trip to the nearest United States Quarter- 
master, receipts being taken for the same. 

" 4:th. Couriers and mounted men of the ar- 
tillery and cavalry, whose horses are their own 
private property, will be allowed to retain them. 

'^ 5th. The surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virficinia shall be construed to include all the forces 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 289 

operating with that army on the 8th instant, the 
date of the commencement of the negotiations for 
surrender, except such bodies of cavalry as actu- 
ally made their escape previous to the surrender, 
and except also such pieces of artillery as were 
more than twenty miles from Appomattox Court 
House at the time of the surrender on the 9th in- 
stant. (Signed). 

John Gibbon, Maj-Gen. Vols. 
Charles Griffin, Bt. Maj-Gen, U. S. Vols, 
W. Merritt, Bt. Maj-Gen. 
J. Longstreet, Lieut-Gen, 
J. B. Gordon, Maj-Gen. 
W. M. Pendleton, Brig -Gen. and Chief 

of Artillery, ^^ 

Thus was completed and given effect to the 
surrender of Lee and his Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, and thus passed into history the closing in- 
cidents of the great Civil War. The number of 
effective men of Lee's immediate command who, 
on the morrow of surrender, took advantage of 
the generous terms offered by General Grant, on 
the part of the United States Government, did 
not exceed 10,000 ; though, when the stragglers 
came up and the scattered contingents were 
gathered in, the entire number paroled reached 



290 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

close upon 28,000. Throughout the proceedings 
connected with the surrender, there was nothing, 
in tone or manner, on the part of the victors, to 
wound the natural sensitiveness of the Confeder- 
ates ; while no spirit of exultation was mani- 
fested, or aught shown save the utmost kindli- 
ness, compassion, and sympathy. This, added to 
the considerate and politic conditions upon which 
each individual member of the Southern army 
was paroled and permitted to return to his home, 
relieved surrender of all pang, and the remem- 
brance of ^' a lost cause," if it then or afterwards 
intruded itself, of a sense of disappointment and 
sorrow. To Lee, personally, the worst, if we 
may say it, was yet to come, in taking leave 
of his grim but loved veterans, and in bidding 
each of the now shrunken but heroic band fare- 
well. 

Profound was the feeling with which the little 
army saw their beloved leader ride back to 
his headquarters after the surrender had been 
practically effected. Sobs and tears were the 
signs of their emotion, as all realized that the end 
had finally come, and the last fight for Southern 
independence had taken place. As his men clus- 
tered around their great Captain, seeking to 
grasp and give a loving pressure to the hand of 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 291 

.their long-time chieftain, upwelling tears in the 
hero's eyes spoke the agony of his soul, and, in 
trembling tones, he simply said to them : ^^Men, 
we have fought through the war together ; and 
I have done the best I could for you. My heart 
is too full to say more ! " On the morrow, how- 
ever, he took a more formal leave of his little 
faithful band, and in the following graciously 
expressed and noble, pathetic words : 

Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 

April 10, 1865. 

" After four years of arduous service, marked 
by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army 
of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield 
to overwhelming numbers and resources. 

^^ I need not tell the survivors of so many hard- 
fought battles, who have remained steadfast to 
the last, that I have consented to this result from 
no distrust of them ; but, feeling that valor and 
devotion could accomplish nothing that could 
compensate for the loss that would have attended 
the continuation of the contest, I have determined 
to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past 
services have endeared them to their country- 
men. 

** By the terms of agreement, officers and men 



292 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

can return to their homes and remain there until 
exchanged. 

^^ You will take with you the satisfaction that 
proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully 
performed ; and I earnestly pray that a merciful 
God will extend to you His blessing and protec- 
tion. 

''With an unceasing admiration of your con- 
stancy and devotion to your country, and a grate- 
ful remembrance of your kind and generous con- 
sideration of myself, I bid you an affectionate 
farewell. 

''R. E.Lee, GeneraV 

But one more act in the drama of capitulation 
has to be related, viz., the summoning, on April 12, 
for the last time, of the several divisions of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, to a public place 
near the Appomattox Court House, where the 
different commands stacked their arms, packed 
the artillery, deposited their accoutrements, and, 
with a salute, parted with their field and regi- 
mental colors. The surrender was received for 
General Grant (who, with a fine consideration 
for the feelings of the men of the late army, re- 
mained at his headquarters) by Major-General 
Gibbon. Those who had effected their escape 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 293 

(chiefly 2,000 cavalry under Kosser and Fitz- 
hugh Lee), before the closing in of Sheridan's 
lines after hostilities were suspended, and who 
afterwards surrendered, were partakers in the 
terms granted to the army as a whole. All, 
officers and men, were now paroled and dis- 
banded, and took their several ways homewards ; 
while General Lee, accompanied by his staff, set 
out for Kichmond and reunion with those dear 
to them. At the late Confederate capital, the 
hero was hailed, alike by gray and blue uni- 
formed figures, with the heartiest enthusiasm ; 
while by the city's officials and citizens he was 
awarded the respect and homage due not only to 
fidelity, but to stately courage and high moral 
■worth. 

After the surrender and dispersion of Lee and 
his army. General J. E. Johnston, with whose 
command in North Carolina Lee had with futile 
purpose sought to form a junction, entered into 
corespondence with General Sherman, as he 
could now make no stand alone. This corre- 
spondence led to the surrender of his army at 
Durham Station on the 26th of April ; while 
other bands of Confederate troops also yielded 
themselves up, and the four terrible years of 
war finally came to a close. Simultaneously, 



294 LIFE OF GENElRAL LEE. 

General Grant returned with his staff to Wash- 
ington, where followed the hideous tragedy of 
the assassination, on the 14th of April, of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, as he was sitting with his family 
in a hox at the theater in the capital. The 
lamented President died on the following day. 
The assassin was a demented Southern sympa- 
thizer, John Wilkes Booth, who belonged to an 
actor's family, and had become fanatically op- 
posed to the good and wise Lincoln and to the 
Union Administration and party. Escaping from 
Washington after his vile deed, which struck hor- 
ror in all breasts, and moved even the South to 
sympathy, Booth was hunted down by a party of 
soldiers near Fredericksburg, and, refusing to 
surrender, he was shot in a barn where he had 
sought refuge. 

The striking down of the great Emancipator, 
ever prone to kindliness, as he was, and possessing 
a mind and heart always influenced by humane 
and just motives, was a heavy blow to the whole 
country ; and especially just then, when he was 
about to grapple with the serious problem of Ee- 
construction. In a sense, as the present writer 
has elsewhere said, Lincoln's calamitous end 
came as a not unfitting sequel to, and admoni- 
tion against, civil war ; and though it deprived 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 295 

the nation 'of his wise counsels in the great work 
that lay before it, his death and the manner of 
it were factors of value in hushing all criti- 
cism of the man and his career, while raising 
grateful peans to his memory. In unity well 
might the two sections of the country, now 
again become one, pay ceaseless honor to him 
who had had much to do, through the long and 
appalling conflict, in bringing about the happy 
issue of Union, and who, in memorable words, 
in his immortal Second Inaugural, after be- 
moaning the scourge of war, and yet foreseeing 
its close, had admonished the Nation to have 
''malice toward none," and "with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
to seethe right,-' besought them to ''finish the 
work they were in, to bind up the Nation's 
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne 
the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, 
to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 
nations." 

In closing our narrative of the chief incidents of 
the war, as they connect themselves with General 
Lee, and passing to follow the latter to the close 
of his illustrious career, it remains but to add, 
that a general amnesty was proclaimed by the 



296 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

new Union President (Andrew Johnson), on the 
29th of May, the last of the Confederate generals 
having surrendered during the month; while Pres- 
ident Davis of the now collapsed Confederacy, 
then a fugitive in Georgia, was captured on May 
10th at Irwinsville, Ga., and imprisoned for a 
time in Fortress Monroe, but later on was liber- 
ated on parole. 

Soon after the close of the conflict the North 
disbanded its large armies, over 800,000 having 
been mustered out by the month of November, 
1865. ^' The War for the Union," remarks an his- 
torian authority (Edward Channing, in his ^^ His- 
tory of the United States") ^^cost the nation. 
North and South, the lives of nearly a million 
men : about 95,000 Northern soldiers were killed 
on the field of battle, or were fatally wounded 
and died in hospitals; 180,000 more succumbed 
to disease while on the army rolls. To these 
figures must be added those who died from 
accident, disappeared permanently, or died in 
Southern prisons, or in consequence of disease or 
wounds contracted while in the service ; the total 
of those who perished from all these causes is not 
far from half a million ; about as many more 
Southerners perished from similar causes. Hun- 
dreds of thousands more contracted disorders or 



OVERTURES OF PEACE AND THE SURRENDER. 297 

received wounds while in the service, which did 
not lead directly to death, but which shortened 
life or made it wretched. The total money cost 
of the war to the Union Government was about 
3,500 million dollars — excluding expenses incurred 
by States and municipalities, which amounted, 
in all probability, at least to 300 millions more. 
Adding to this the amount paid and to be paid in 
pensions to those who risked their lives and the 
well-being of their families for the Union cause, 
and the amount of private property destroyed 
during the conflict, the War for the Union cost 
not less than ten thousand million dollars ! " 



CHAPTER XX. 

GENERAL LEE INSTALLED AS PRESIDENT OF WASH- 
INGTON COLLEGE, LEXINGTON, VA. 

General Lee lived for over five years after 
the close of the war ; and though by a section in 
Congress he was the object, as was the South 
and its late President also, of suspicion and 
partizan dislike, he remained uniformly loyal to 
the new order of things, as well as unflinching 
in his patriotic purpose to restore the nation to 
unity and quiet, orderly government. Eecon- 
struction, for a time, made slow progress, for 
President Johnson's ability to smooth matters and 
heal the sores of the nation were not such as 
would doubtless have been his great predecessor's, 
had he lived ; while many, like Davis and even 
Lee, who had participated in rebellion, were ex- 
cluded from the measure of amnesty and pardon 
that had been proclaimed. In Lee's case, he was 
even indicted for treason, at the instigation 
of a Federal judge ; though his old antagonist-in- 
arms. General Grant, whom he lived to see fill 

298 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 299 

the Presidential chair, pleaded the sacredness of 
the Southern Commander's military parole, and 
legal proceedings were consequently dropped. 
His personal attitude during these trying years 
was most patient and retiring, as well as consist- 
ently dutiful, as a letter to his son, General Fitz- 
hugh Lee, emphatically attests : ^' As to the 
indictments," writes the General, ''I hope you, 
at least, may not be prosecuted. I see no more 
reason for it than for prosecuting all who ever 
engaged in the war. I think, however, we may 
expect procrastination in measures of relief, de- 
nunciatory threats, etc. ; but we must be patient 
and let them take their course." 

When Lee, at the close of the war, returned to 
his family at Eichmond, he found the city not 
only in much confusion, but largely destroyed ; 
and, as his ancestral home there of Arlington 
had in his absence been appropriated to public 
purposes, and was now occupied by Federal officials 
and army officers, his desire for quiet and privacy 
led to his re-establishing himself and his family 
in a country house on the James Eiver in Pow- 
hatan county. Hither came to him the an- 
nouncement that the Board of Trustees had 
elected him to the presidency of Washington 
College, Lexington, Va., a compliment which^ as 



300 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

it was alike unsought and unexpected, he greatly 
appreciated. The offer, while a politic one on the 
part of the Trustees, and intended as an honor 
to the gallant old soldier, as well as a tribute 
to his learning and high character, General Lee 
hesitated, however, to accept, and that for two 
reasons. These were, first,, what he deemed his 
inability, at his advanced years, to undergo the ^ 
labor of conducting classes in regular courses of 
instruction— though he might be equal to under- 
take the general administration and supervision 
of the institution ; and, second, the fact that he 
was still, politically, under the ban of the United 
States Government, as an unamnestied man ; 
and, hence, did he accept the post, might draw 
hostility upon the College to its injury, as well as 
animadversion from certain partizan quarters. 
These scruples and objections were, however, and 
wisely, waived by the Board ; and the close of 
September, 1866, found him on his way to Lex 
ington, to be inaugurated as President of the 
College. 

The installation of the soldier-president took 
place October 2nd ; and though at General Lee's 
request it was quiet and simple in its exercises, 
there was a roortiful of prominent people present, 
including the students, faculty, and trustees, to 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 301 

witness and do honor to the occasion. After a 
prayer, Judge Brockenbrough, chairman of the 
Board, made a eulogistic address, in which he con- 
gratulated '' the Board and College, and its pres- 
ent and future students, on having obtained one 
so loved and great and worthy to preside over the 
institution ; " then the oath of office was admin- 
istered and taken, and the keys were given up by 
the Kector into the keeping of the new President. 
After this, followed the customary introductions 
and handshakings, etc., the whole proceedings, it 
is stated, being at once most pleasing and im- 
pressive. 

On entering upon his academic duties. General 
Lee removed his wife and daughters to their new 
home ; while his eldest son was, meanwhile, called 
to a chair in the Virginia Military Institute, 
located also at Lexington. His management of 
the College was productive of excellent results, 
bringing to it numbers of students from many 
sections of the South, while raising it to high 
distinction as a widely approved center of intel- 
lectual training and well-maintained discipline. 
The incentive General Lee set himself in his ardu- 
ous, though self-imposed, task, we find in his 
own characteristic declaration, that ^^ I have led 
the young men of the South in battle ; I have 



302 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

seen many of them fall under my standard. I 
shall devote my life now to training young men to 
do their duty in life." 

At this time, there was much talk in Virginia 
and elsewhere in the South of a wholesale immi- 
gration to Mexico, in which Lee's cooperation 
was sought : but the General, though admitting 
the possibility that a movement of the kind might 
conduce to prosperity, discountenanced the pro- 
ject, deeming it better, as he said, that Southern- 
ers should remain at home and mold, as well as 
share in, the fortunes of their respective States. 

In public office, even that of the governorship 
of his own State, which was offered him early in 
1867, Lee could not be induced to serve, preferring 
a quiet, unostentatious life and the enjoyment of 
privacy and home comforts. He was, however, 
thoroughly alive to and interested in public affairs, 
and in his letters to friends he shows and gives 
expression to his thoughtful views on many im- 
portant questions of the time. In one of these 
letters, written in frank terms to a correspondent 
and sj^mpathizer, he obviously cannot resist 
giving expression to his alarm at the dangers that 
then threatened the nation and its republican in- 
stitutions, as well as his regret at the many exist- 
ing signs of aggression on the rights of his own 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 303 

section of the country. In the following extract 
from a letter written to a friend abroad at the 
close of 1866, we see what were his views on the 
traditional question of State Rights and the 
aggressions of an overpowerful and autocrati- 
cally-inclined General Government : 

'^ While I have considered the preservation of 
the constitutional power of the General Govern- 
ment to be the foundation of our peace and safety 
at home and abroad, I yet believe that the main- 
tenance of the rights and authority reserved to 
the States, and to the people, not only essential to 
the adjustment and balance of the general system, 
but the safe-guard of the continuance of a free 
government. I consider it as the chief source of 
stability to our political system ; whereas the con- 
solidation of the States into one vast republic, sure 
to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will 
be the certain precursor of that ruin which has 
overwhelmed all those that have preceded it." 

On the important matter of self-government, 
and the attitude of the South on the once-distract- 
ing topic of slavery and the tendency of recent 
laws to place the political power, sectionally, in 
the hands of the negro race, General Lee felt 
strongly, as we see from the following expression 
of his views, in reply to a request for such from 



304 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE). 

General Eosecrans and other public men. Writ- 
ing from White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., in the 
summer months of 1868, Lee observes : * 

'^ Whatever opinions may have prevailed in the 
past with regard to African slavery or the right 
of a State to secede from the Union, we believe 
we express the almost unanimous judgment of 
the Southern people when we declare that they 
consider that these questions were decided by the 
war, and that it is their intention, in good faith, 
to abide by that decision. At the close of the 
war, the Southern people laid down their arms 
and sought to resume their former relations to 
the Government of the United States. Through 
their State conventions they abolished slavery and 
annulled their ordinances of secession ; and they 
returned to their peaceful pursuits with a sincere 
purpose to fulfill all their duties under the Consti- 
tution of the United States, which they had sworn 
to support. If their action in these particulars 
had been met in a spirit of frankness and cordial- 
ity, we believe that, ere this, old irritations would 
have passed away, and the wounds inflicted by the 

* We are indebted for this paper, setting forth General 
Lee's views, to Prof. H. A. White's biography of Lee, in the 
•' Heroes of the Nations " series, published by Messrs. G. Put- 
nam's Sons, in 1902. 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 305 

war would have been, in a great measure, healed. 
As far as we are advised, the people of the South 
entertain no unfriendly feeling towards the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, but they com- 
plain that their rights under the Constitution are 
withheld from them in the administration thereof. 
The idea that the Southern people are hostile to 
the negroes, and would oppress them, if it were in 
their power to do so, is entirely unfounded. They 
have grown up in our midst, and we have been 
accustomed from childhood to look upon them 
with kindness. The change in the relations of 
the two races has wrought no change in our feel- 
ings towards them. They still constitute an im- 
portant part of our laboring population. With- 
out their labor, the lands of the South would be 
comparatively unproductive ; without the employ- 
ment which Southern agriculture affords, they 
would be destitute of the means of subsistence, 
and become paupers dependent upon public bounty. 
Self-interest, if there were no higher motive, 
would therefore prompt the whites of the South 
to extend to the negroes care and protection. 

* ^ The important fact that the two races are, 
under existing circumstances, necessary to each 
other, is gradually becoming apparent to both, 
and we believe that but for influences exerted to 



306 LIFE OF GENEflAL LEE. 

stir up the passions of the negroes, the relations 
of the two races would soon adjust themselves on 
a basis of mutual kindness and advantage. 

'^ It is true that the people of the South, in com- 
mon with a large majority of the people of the 
North and West, are, for obvious reasons, inflexi- 
bly opposed to any system of laws that would place 
the political power of the country in the hands of 
the negro race. But this opposition springs from 
no feeling of enmity, but from a deep-seated con- 
viction that, at present, the negroes have neither 
the intelligence nor the other qualifications which 
are necessary to make them safe depositaries of 
political power. They would inevitably become 
the victims of demagogues who, for selfish pur- 
poses, would mislead them, to the serious injury 
of the public. 

^^ The great want of the South is peace. The 
people earnestly desire tranquillity and a restora- 
tion of the Union. They deprecate disorder and ex- 
citement as the most serious obstacle to their pros- 
perity. They ask a restoration of their rights 
under the Constitution. They desire relief from 
oppressive misrule. Above all, they would appeal 
to their countrymen for the reestablishment, in 
the Southern States, of that which has justly been 
regarded as the birthright of every American, 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 307 

the right of self-government. Establish these on 
a firm basis, and we can safely promise, on behalf 
of the Southern people, that they will faithfully 
obey the Constitution and laws of the United 
States, treat the negro population with kindness 
and humanity, and fulfill every duty incumbent 
on peaceful citizens, loyal to the Constitution of 
their country." 

This deliverance of Lee on the political and 
social condition of the South is, as will be seen, 
calm and temperate, as was his testimony, given 
at Washington, early in 1866, when summoned 
thither to be interrogated by the Congressional 
Committee on Eeconstruction. His views in re- 
gard to the latter were those of a sane, thought- 
ful and loyal citizen, sincerely anxious for peace 
and harmony in the South, as well as for the re- 
sumption of cordial relations between the two 
sections of the now common country. But, as we 
have said, Lee was averse to taking part in the pub- 
lic discussions of the time, and was most guarded 
in everything that escaped him, that might be 
construed as a criticism upon the Administration 
at Washington, and its policy in restoring peace 
and order in the late seceding States and in re- 
moving the disabilities under which many of its 
chief citizens still lay. Contention, public or pri- 



§03 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

vate, was never his habit, and he ever eschewed the 
discussion of all controverted questions that might 
tempt him to engage in it. Besides, he was now 
giving almost his whole thought to his academic 
duties in College, actuated by a deep sense of his 
responsibility as President, and his desire to bring 
the institution to the highest possible state of 
efi&ciency. In this laudable work he was signally 
successful, especially when we consider from what 
a low ebb in its affairs he had built up the institu- 
tion, which, when he took hold of it, was utterly 
broken in fortune and without resources and 
equipment, while the war had practically closed 
its doors. Lee's absorbing interest in his duties 
throughout the five years his sadly shortened life 
enabled him to give to the administration of the 
College's affairs, is thus appreciatively vouched for 
by his nephew and military biographer. General 
Fitzhugh Lee (See '^ Life of General Lee," in the 
Great Commanders' series). *^Year by year," 
states the narrator, '* the conception of his (Pre- 
sident Lee's) duty grew stronger, and year by 
year, as its instrument, the College grew dearer. 
He was no figurehead, kept in position for the 
attraction of his name ; his energy, zeal, and 
administrative ability surmounted all difficulties. 
His great labors were directed to making Washing- 



LEE PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE. 30^ 

ton College the seat of science, art, and literature. 
Far-reaching plans laid for its success were wisely 
conceived. ... A scholastic monument was slowly 
responding to his noble influence and wise admin- 
istration, which would be as illustrious as his most 
brilliant military achievements. He mastered all 
details, observing the students, becoming person- 
ally acquainted with them, their aspirations and 
hopes ; his interest followed them everywhere ; and 
their associations, dispositions, and habits, were 
well known to him. He never grew imperious, 
or tried to force a measure upon the faculty, but 
modestly said he had but one vote and wished to 
know the opinion of his colleagues, and leave the 
decision to be determined by the whole body. 
Sustained by the loftiest principles of virtue and 
religion, an exalted character, and a conscientious 
sense of duty. General Lee suffered no complaint 
to escape his lips during the eventful years, from 
1865 to 1870, though troubled by much that was 
taking place." 

Besides this testimony to General Lee's untiring 
labors on behalf of the College, we know that his 
wise administration of its affairs helped to im- 
prove its finances and gain for it occasional gifts 
and endowments, most welcome at the time to the 
institution. He was also himself cheered by the 



310 LIFE OF GENERAL tEE. 

coming to the College of many studious youth 
who had served under him in the war ; and whose 
education had been interrupted by the four years 
of unhappy conflict. His influence was great upon 
these, as well as upon all in the classes, and that 
not only intellectually, but morally, for he ever 
regarded religious training as an important 
feature in the functions of the College, as well as 
the training that would make men worthy and 
useful citizens and high-minded, honorable gentle- 
men, after his own exemplary and characteristic 
type. Socially, his influence also was great, as 
we see in the offers that were repeatedly made to 
him of influential and often highly-remunerated 
positions, which, however, he invariably refused, 
so that he might give his undivided time and 
attention to the educational and administrative 
affairs of the College. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 

As the years passed over him, General Lee, un- 
happily, found himself in indifferent health, in 
consequence of the return of an old ailment to 
which his long and arduous military life had ex- 
posed him, and now left him often a great sufferer. 
This was an aggravated form of rheumatism, 
which threatened the vitals and gave him almost 
constant pain in his chest. Early in the year of 
1870, the General's distress from this affliction in- 
creased, and at length became so great that he 
was reluctantly necessitated to rest from his 
labors and undertake a trip to Georgia and other 
parts of the South. In this expedition in search 
of health, he was accompanied by his most duti- 
ful and ever-watchful daughter, Agnes, who, 
with her mother, also an invalid, were at this 
time very solicitous about him. While in the 
South, Lee's general health improved, and he 
seemed to be benefited by the change of scene 
and air, so that he returned to his college duties 

311 



312 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

in the autumn session ; though, to the close obser- 
ver, his appearance showed traces of the onward 
progress of disease. His step, at this time, we are 
told, began to lose its elasticity ; while the shoul- 
ders began to droop and the ruddy glow disap- 
peared from his face. There were signs soon also 
of cerebral exhaustion and congestion of the brain, 
which showed that the end was now not far off. 
His nephew-biographer, Fitzhugh Lee, gives us 
the incidents that befell the great soldier, premon- 
itory of the approaching end. *'A noble life," 
he tells us, '^ was drawing to a close. The morn- 
ing of September 28, 1870, found him faithfully 
performing the duties of his office ; the afternoon, 
engaged with his brother members of the vestry 
of Grace Episcopal Church " (at Lexington) ^^ in 
work congenial to the true Christian, and the 
autumn evening shadows fell upon a couch over 
which the heavenly angels were bending. The 
important question of rebuilding the church and 
increasing his faithful friend and pastor's com- 
pensation had interested him so deeply at the 
vestry meeting, that the cold church and the out- 
side storm were forgotten, and it was only after 
a protracted session of over three hours, as he 
proceeded to his house, a short distance off, that 
weariness and weakness overtook him, and his 



EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 313 

wavering steps indicated increasing feebleness. 
Entering his private office, as usual, he took off 
his hat, military cloak, and overshoes, and then 
proceeded to join his family, who had been wait- 
ing tea for him. Quietly he stood in his accus- 
tomed place in the dining-room, while his family, 
with bowed heads, waited to hear the well-known 
o-race, but no sound came from his lips. Speech- 
less the great soldier stood ; an expression of de- 
spair spread over his face ; and from his eyes came 
a dreamy, far-away look, which denoted the ap- 
proaching summons from his Creator. 

** 'My husband came in,' wrote Mrs. Lee, 'and 
I asked where he had been, remarking that he 
had kept us waiting a long time. He did not 
reply, but stood up as if to say grace. No word 
proceeded from his lips, but with a sublime look 
of resignation he sat down in his chair.' With 
intense anxiety the family went to his assistance. 
A bed was brought to the dining-room, in which 
he was placed, and doctors were quickly suni- 
moned. For two weeks, 

* 'Twixt night and morn upon the horizon's verge, 
Between two worlds life hovered like a star.* 

*'Mrs. Lee tells us that his whole demeanor 
during his sickness was that of one who had 



314: LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

taken leave of earth. He never smiled, and 
rarely attempted to speak, except in his dreams, 
and then, she says, ' he wandered to those dread- 
ful battlefields.' ' You must get out and ride 
your faithful gray,' the doctor said. He shook 
his head and looked upward ; and once when his 
daughter Agnes urged him to take medicine, he 
looked at her and said, ' It is no use.' Human 
love was powerful, human aid powerless. Hope 
and Despair were twin watchers by his bed-side. 
At first, as his disease seemed to yield to treat- 
ment, Hope brightened, but soon Despair alone 
kept watch. During the afternoon and night of 
October 10th shadowy clouds of approaching dis- 
solution began to gather, a creeping lethargy cap- 
tured the faculties, and the massive grandeur of 
form and face began to contract. During the 
succeeding day he rapidly grew worse ; his 
thoughts wandered to the fields where he had 
so often led his gray battalions to victory ; and 
like the greatest of his captains, Stonewall Jack- 
son, whose expiring utterance told ' A. P. Hill 
to prepare for action,' he too, in death's delirium, 
said, 'Tell Hill he must come up;' 'For the 
last forty-eight hours he seemed quite insensible 
of our presence,' Mrs. Lee states ; 'he breathed 
more heavily, and at last gently sank to rest 



EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 315 

with one deep-drawn sigh, and, oh, what a 
glorious rest was in store for him ! '" 

Death occurred on the morning of the 12th of 
October, 1870, when the great Southern leader had 
reached his sixty- fourth year. Two days later, 
the College chapel received all that was mortal 
of the deceased warrior, and on the 15th the 
casket enclosing his remains was, after a brief 
but impressive service, lowered into a vault in 
rear of the College chapel, where, later on, his 
wife and daughter Agnes also found burial. 

^^ Tolling bells," relates the sympathetic biog- 
rapher, from whose work we have already made 
quotation, ^^ first proclaimed the sad intelligence " 
(of the death of the warrior) to the citizens of 
Lexington, electric wires flashed it to the world. 
Throughout the South business was suspended, 
schools were closed, societies and associations of 
all sorts assembled, where eulogistic speeches 
were made, and resolutions passed laudatory of 
General Lee's life, and lamenting his death. In 
those adopted by the faculty of the College it 
was declared that * his executive ability, his en- 
larged views of liberal culture, his extraordi- 
nary powers in the government of men, his worn 
derful influence over the minds of the young, 
and his steady and earnest devotion to duty, 



316 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

made the College spring, as if by the touch of 
magic, from its depression after the war to its 
present firm condition of permanent and wide- 
spread usefulness' ; that it was * a deep satisfac- 
tion to receive his remains beneath the chapel he 
had built ; ' and that the ' memory of his noble 
life will remain as an abiding inspiration to the 
young of the country as they gather at the last 
scene of his labors, to emulate his virtues and to 
follow his great example.' " 

Equally sincere and hearty were other laudatory 
comments on the man and his career expressed by 
prominent people and influential public bodies 
throughout the South. At a Lee Memorial meet- 
ing, held at Eichmond on Nov 3rd, one of Lee's 
old colleagues in the war, Major-General Gor- 
don, thus admiringly spoke of the hero : ** Of no 
man whom it has ever been my fortune to meet can 
it be so truthfully said as of Lee, that, grand as 
might be your conception of the man before, he 
rose in incomparable majesty on more familiar 
acquaintance. This can be affirmed of few men 
who have ever lived or died, and of no other man 
whom it has been my fortune to approach. Like 
Niagara, the more you gazed, the more its gran- 
deur grew upon you, the more its majesty expand- 
ed and filled your spirit with a full satisfaction, 




Statue of General Robert E. Lee at Richmond, Virginia. Page 316. 

LIFE OF GENERAL LI 



EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 317 

that left a perfect delight without the slightest feel- 
ing of oppression. Grandly majestic and dignified 
in his deportment, he was as genial as the sun- 
light of May, and not a ray of that cordial social 
intercourse but brought warmth to the heart, as 
it brought light to the understanding." At the 
same meeting, the ex-President of the Confederate 
States, the Hon. Jefferson Davis, remarked that 
^'this day we unite our words of sorrow with 
those of the good and great throughout Christen- 
dom, for General Lee's fame has gone far over the 
water ; and, when the monument we shall build 
to his memory shall have crumbled into dust, his 
virtues will still live— a high model for the imita- 
tion of generations yet unborn." Another prom- 
inent figure and fellow actor in the war, Lee's close 
friend. General J. E. Johnston, wrote thus to the 
lamenting widow, three days after her great loss : 

*^ My DEAR Madam : 

^^ Although you are receiving the strongest 
proofs that a whole people are sharing in your 
great sorrow, I venture to write, not merely to say 
how I, General Lee's earliest and most devoted 
friend, lament his death, and how sadly the event 
will visit my memory while I stay on earth, but, 
still more, to assure you of my deep sympathy in 



318 LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 

this greatest bereavement a human being can 
know, and of my fervent prayers to our merciful 
God that He may grant His help to you and your 
children. 

^' Most sincerely and truly your friend, 

"J. E. Johnston." 

Commenting on Lee's military reputation, 
General Fitzhugh Lee truly and admiringly ob- 
serves, that : *' In strategy, it is certain Lee stands 
in the front rank of the great warriors of the 
world. He was a greater soldier than Sir Henry 
Havelock, and equally devout as a Christian. . . . 
He had the swift intuition to discern the purpose 
of his opponent, and the power of rapid combina- 
tion to oppose to it prompt resistance. . . . The 
world places Lee by the side of its greatest cap- 
tains, because, surrounded on all sides by conflict- 
ing anxieties, interests, and the gravity of issues 
involved, he only surrendered his battle-stained, 
bullet-riddled banners after demonstrating that 
all had been done that mortal could accomplish. 
The profession of the soldier has been honored by 
his renown, the cause of education by his virtues, 
religion by his piety." 

One more comment we must permit ourselves, 
and that on the subject of the great soldier's per- 



EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 319 

sonal appearance and power of impressing all who 
came in contact with him. The extract is from 
the narrative of a visit to General Lee, in the 
Spring of 1870, by a Canadian cavalry officer and 
writer on military tactics, Lt.-Col. Geo. T. Den- 
ison, who was, moreover, a great admirer of the 
General. Colonel Denison writes : ^' General 
Lee impressed one exceedingly. I have seen some 
men whom the world esteems great men, but I 
have no hesitation in saying that no man ever 
impressed me as did General Eobert E. Lee. In 
stature he was about five feet ten inches, but 
from his splendid figure and magnificent carriage, 
as well as from the massive appearance of his 
head, he seemed much taller. He looked the very 
personification of high and pure intelligence. 'No 
one could fail to be at once impressed, nay, awed, 
by the calm majesty of his intellect ; while there 
was an almost childlike simplicity and kindness 
of manner that irresistibly won upon you at once. 
He was one of those men that made the ancients 
believe in demi-gods. His defeat served but to 
add to his greatness ; for nothing could shake his 
equanimity. In all his reverses not a complaint 
escaped him, not a murmur did he utter, although 
he must have felt keenly the wrongs and suffer- 
ings of those for whom he had fought so well. " 



320 LIFE OP GENERAL LEE. 

The calm dignity with which Lee met adversity, 
here referred to by Colonel Denison, has been 
the subject of many approving remarks, and, 
with his quiet reticence in submitting finally to 
the inevitable, won for him Northern sympathy 
as well as elicited Southern pride. In his long, 
brilliant, but unequal struggle, when in command 
of the Army of Northern Virginia, he was never 
known to repine or manifest the slightest resent- 
ment or bitterness. Such even was his command 
of temper that, as has often been said, he was never 
seen angry, and rarely had a disapproving or con- 
demnatory word to say of any one. In this respect, 
his self-restraint was as remarkable as was his 
self-possession and uniform moderation. In short, 
rarely in the annals of war is there a nobler 
record to be met with of an army leader who com- 
bined in his person the highest qualities of a sol- 
dier-hero and a Christian. Nothing in his re- 
splendent career dims the luster of his character 
in the latter respect, or qualifies the example he 
ever set before him of a humble and trustful 
soldier of Jesus Christ. As a constant and con- 
sistent follower of his divine Master, General Lee's 
example had a beneficent influence upon all who 
came in contact with him ; while his trustfulness 
in a Guiding Power marked the man in all his 



EVENING SHADOWS, AND DEATH. 321 

dealings, and in every difficulty or emergency he 
had to confront. Very beautiful in this aspect 
was his life, while most winning was his bearing 
and manner, and grandly inspiring his influence 
and example. 

THE END. 



A, L. Burt's Catalogue of Books for 
Young People by Popular Writers, 52- 
58 Duane Street, New York ^ ns ^ 



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illustrated, price |l.50. 

Nowhere in the history of our country can be found more heroic or 
thrilling Incidents than in the story of those brave men and women 
who founded the settlement of Wh«;eling in the Colony of Virginia. The 
recital of what Elizabeth Zane did is in itself as heroic a story as can 
be imagined. The wondrous bravery displayed by Major McCulloch 
and his gallant comrades, the sufferings of the colonists and their sacrifice 
of blood and life, stir the blood of old as well as young readers. 

The Capture of the Laughing Mary. A Story of Three 

New York Boys in 1776. By James Otis. 12mo, ornamental cloth, olivine 

edges, price $1.50. 

"During the British occupancy of New York, at the outbreak of the 
Revolution, a Yankee lad hears of the plot to take General Washington's 
person, and calls in two companions to assist the patriot cause. They 
do some astonishing things, and, incidentally, lay the wa.v for an 
American navy later, by the exploit which gives its name to the 
work. Mr. Otis' books are too well known to require any particular 
commendation to the young." — Evening Post. 

With Warren at Bunker HilL A Story of the Siege of 

Boston. By James Otis. 12mo, ornametnal cloth, olivine edges, illus- 
trated, price $1.50. 

"This is a tale of the siege of Boston, which opens on the day after 
the doings at Lexington and Concord, with a description of home life 
in Boston, introduces the reader to the British camp at Charlestown, 
shows Gen. Warren at home, describes what a bo.v thought of the 
battle of Bunker Hill, and closes with the raising of the siege. The 
three heroes, George Wentworth, Ben Scarlett and an old ropemaker, 
incur the enmity of a young Tory, who causes them many adventures 
the boys will like to read." — Detroit Free Press. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the 
publisher. A.. L. BU&I, 52-68 Suano Street. New York. 



A. L. BURT^S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 5 

BOOKS FOR BOYS. 

With the Swamp Fox. The Story of General Marion's 

Spies. By James Otis. 13mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

This story deals with General Francis Marion's heroic struggle in the 
Carolinas. General Marion's arrival to take command of these brave 
men and rough riders is pictured as a boy might have seen it, and 
although the story is devoted to what the lads did, the Swamp Fox 
is ever present in the mind of the reader. 

On the Kentucky Frontier. A Story of the Fighting 

Pioneers of the West. By James Otis. 13mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1. 

In the history of our country there Is no more thrilling story than 
that of the work done on the Mississippi river by a handful of frontiers- 
men. Mr. Otis takes the reader on that famous expedition from th« 
arrival of Major Clarke's force at Corn Island, until Kaskaskia was 
captured. He relates that part of Simon Kenton's life history which 
is not usually touched upon either by the historian or the story teller. 
This is one of the most entertaining books for young people which has 
been published. 

Sarah Dillard's Ride. A Story of South Carolina in 

in 1780. By James Otis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

"T^iis book deals with the Carolinas in 1780, giving a wealth of detail of 
the Mountain Men who struggled so valiantly against the king's troops. 
Major Ferguson is the prominent British officer of the story, which is 
told as though coming from a youth who experienced these adventures. 
In this way the famous ride of Sarah Dillard is brought out as an 
incident of the plot." — Boston Journal. 

A Tory Plot, A Story of the Attempt to Kill General 

Washington. By James Otis. 12rao, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

*• 'A Tory Plot' is the story of two lads who overhear something 
of the plot originated during the Revolution by Gov. Tryon to capture 
or murder Washington. They communicate their knowledge to Gen. 
Putnam and are commissioned by him to play the role of detectives 
in the matter. They do so, and meet with many adventures and hair- 
breadth escapes. The boys are, of course, mythical, but they serve to en- 
able the author to put into very attractive shape much valuable knowledge 
concerning one phase of the Revolution." — Pittsburgh Times. 

A Traitor's Escape. A Story of the Attempt to Seize 

Benedict Arnold. By James Otis. 13mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1 .00. 

"This is a tale with stirring scenes depicted in each chapter, bringing 
clearly before the mind the glorious deeds of the early settlers in this 
country. In an historical work dealing with this country's past, no 
plot can hold the attention closer than this one, which describes the 
attempt and partial success of Benedict Arnold's escape to New York, 
where he remained as the guest of Sir Heury Clinton. All those who 
actually figured in the arrest of the traitor, as well as Gen. Washing- 
ton, are included as characters." — Albany Union. 

A Cruise with Paul Jones. A Story of Naval Warfare 

in 1776. By James Otis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

•'This story takes up that portion of Paul Jones' adventurous life 
when he was hovering off the British coast, watching for an oppor- 
tunity to strike the enemy a blow. It deals more particularly with 
his descent upon Whitehaven, the seizure of Lady Selkirk's plate, and 
the famous battle with the Drake. The boy who figures in the tale 
Is one who was taken from a derelict by Paul Jones shortly after this 
particular cruise was begun." — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price By th« 
publisher. A. L. BUBI, 62-68 Suane Street, New York. 



6 A. L. buet's books foe young people. 
BOOKS FOR BOYS. 

Corporal Lige's Recruit. A Story of Crown Point and 

Ticonderoga. By James Otis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1,00. 
"In 'Corporal Lige's Recruit,' Mr. Otis tells the amusing story of an 
old soldier, proud of his record, who had served the king in '58. and who 
talies the lad, Isaac Rice, as his 'personal recruit.' The lad acquits 
himself superbly. Col. Ethan Allen 'in the name of God and the con- 
tinental congress,' infuses much martial spirit into the narrative, which 
will arouse the keenest interest as it proceeds. Crown Point. Ticon- 
deroga, Benedict Arnold and numerous other famous historical names 
appear in this dramatic tale." — Boston Globe. 

Morgan, the Jersey Spy. A Story of the Siege of York- 
town in 1781. By James Otis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 
•'The two lads who are utilized by the author to emphasize the details 
of the work done during that memorable time were real boys who lived 
on the banks of the York river, and who aided the Jersey spy in his 
dangerous occupation. In the guise of fishermen the lads visit York- 
town, are suspected of being spies, and put under arrest. Morgan risks 
his life to save them. The final escape, the thrilling encounter with a 
squad of red coats, when they are exposed equally to the bullets of 
friends and foes, told in a masterly fashion, makes of this volume one 
of the most entertaining books of the year." — Inter-Ocean. 

The Young Scout: The Story of a West Point Lieu- 
tenant. By Edward S. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 
The crafty Apache chief Geronimo but a few years ago was the 
most terrible scourge of the southwest border. The author has woven, 
in a tale of thrilling interest, all the incidents of Geronimo's last raid. 
The hero is Lieutenant James Decker, a recent graduate of West Point. 
Ambitious to distinguish himself the young man takes many a desperate 
chance against the enemy and on more than one occasion narrowly 
escapes with his life. In our opinion Mr. Ellis is the best writer of 
Indian stories now before the public. 

Adrift in the Wilds: The Adventures of Two Ship- 
wrecked Boys. By Edward S. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 
Elwood Brandon and Howard Lawrence are en ronte for San Fran- 
cisco. Off the coast of California the steamer takes fire. The two boys 
reach the shore with several of the passengers. Young Brandon be- 
comes separated from his party and is captured by hostile Indians, 
but is afterwards rescued. This is a very entertaining narrative of 
Southern California. 

A Young Hero; or, Fighting to Win. By Edward S. 

Ellis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

This story tells, how a valuable solid silver service was stolen from 
the Misses Perkinpine, two very old and simple minded ladies. Fred 
Sheldon, the hero of this story, undertakes to discover the thieves and 
have them arrested. After much time spent in detective work, he 
succeeds in discovering the silver plate and winning the reward. The 
story is told in Mr. Ellis' most fascinating style. Every boy will be 
glad to read this delightful book. 

Lost in the Rockies. A Story o*f Adventure in the 

Rocky Mountains. By Edward S. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1. 

Incident succeeds incident, and adventure is piled npon adventure, 
and at the end the reader, be he boy or man, will have experienced 
breathless enjoyment in this romantic story describing many adventures lo 
the Rockies and among the Indians. _ 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by tht 
publisher, A. L, BURT, 52-58 Duane Street, New York, 



A. L. BURT^S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 7 

BOOKS FOR BOYS. 

A Jaunt Through Java: The Story of a Journey toi 

the Sacred Mountain. By Edward S. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, 

price $1.00. 

The interest of this story Is found in the thrilling adventures of 
two cousins, Hermon and Eustace Hadley, on their trip acrosss the island 
of Java, from Samarung to the Sacred Mountain. In a land where the 
Royal Bengal tiger, the rhinoceros, and other fierce beasts are to be 
met with, it is but natural that the heroes of this book should have a 
lively experience. There is not a dull page in the book. 

The Boy Patriot. A Story of Jack, the Young Friend 

of Washington. By Edward S. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, olivine edges, illus- 
trated, price $1.50. 

"There are adventures of all kinds for the hero and his friends, whose 
pluck and ingenuity in extricating themselves from awkward fixes are 
always equal to the occasion. It is an excellent story full of honest, 
manly, patriotic efforts on the part of the hero. A very vivid description 
of the battle of Trenton is also found in this story." — Journal of 
Education. 

A Yankee Lad's Pluck. How Bert Larkin Saved his 

Father's Ranch in Porto Rico. By Wm. P. Chipman. 12mo, cloth, illus- 
trated, price $1.00. 

"Bert Larkin, the hero of the story, early excites our admiration, 
and is altogether a fine character such as boys will delight in, whilst 
the story of his numerous adventures is very graphically told. This 
will, we think, prove one of the most popular boys' books this season."— 
Gazette. 

A Brave Defense. A Story of the Massacre at Fort 

Griswold in 1781. By Willlam P. Chipman. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price 

$1.00. 

Perhaps no more gallant fight against fearful odds took place during 
the Revolutionary War than that at Fort Griswold, Groton Heights, Conn., 
in 1781. The boys are real boys who were actually on the muster rolls, 
either at Fort Trumbull on the New London side, or of Fort Griswold on 
the Groton side of the Thames. The youthful reader who follows Halsey 
Sanford and Levi Dart and Tom Malleson, and their equally brave com- 
rades, through their thrilling adventures will be learning something more 
than historical facts; they will be imbibing lessons of fidelity, of bravery, 
of heroism, and of manliness, which must prove serviceable in the arena 
of life. 

The Young Minuteman. A Story of the Capture of 

General Prescott in 1777. By Wiluam P. Chipman. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, 

price $1.00. 

This story is based upon actual events which occurred during the British 
occupation of the waters of Narragansett Bay. Darius Wale and William 
Northrop belong tO» "the coast patrol." The story is a strong one, dealing 
only with actual events. There is, however, no lack of thrilling adventure, 
and every lad who is fortunate enough to obtain the book will find not 
only that his historical knowledge is increased, but that his own patriotism 
and love of country are deepened. 

For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 

By G. A. Henty. With illustrations by S. J. Solomon. 12mo, cloth, olivine 
edges, price $1.00. 

"Mr. Henty' s graphic prose picture of the hopeless Jewish resistance 
to Roman sway adds another leaf to his record of the famous wars of 
the world . The book is one of Mr. Henty's cleverest eff orts. ' ' — Graphic. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the 
publisher. A, L. BUST, 52-68 Duane Street, New York. 



/ 



8 A. L. BURT^S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. ^ '/ 

BOOKS FOR BOYS. 

Boy Gilbert's Search: A Tale of the Great Lakes. By 

Wm. p. Chipman. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

A deep mystery hangs over the parentage of Eoy Gilbert. He arranges 
with two schoolmates to make a tour of the Great Lakes on a steam 
launch. The three boys visit many points of interest on the lakes. 
Afterwards the lads rescue an elderly gentleman and a lady from a sink- 
ing yacht. Later on the boys narrowly escape with their lives. The 
hero is a manly, self-reliant boy, whose adventures will be followed 
with interest. 

The Slate Picker: The Story of a Boy's Life in the 

Coal Mines. By Harry Prentice. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

This is a story of a boy's life in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. 
Ben Burton, the hero, had a hard road to travel, but by grit and" energy 
he advanced step by step until he found himself called upon to fill the 
position of chief engineer of the Kohinoor Coal Company. This is a 
book of extreme interest to every boy reader. 

The Boy Cruisers; or, Paddling in Florida. By St. 

George Rathborne. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00 
Andrew George and Rowland Carter start on a canoe trip along the 
Gulf coast, from Key West to Tampa, Florida. Their first adventure 
is with a pair of rascals who steal their boats. Next they run into 
a gale in the Gulf. After that they have a lively time with alli- 
gators and Andrew gets into trouble with a band of Seminole Indians. 
Mr. Rathborne knows just how to interest the boys, and lads who are 
in search of a rare treat will do well to read this entertaining story. 

Captured by Zulus: A Story of Trapping in Africa. 

By Harry Prentice. 13mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

This story details the adventures of two lads, Dick Elsworth and Bob 
Harvt-y, in the wilds of South Africa. By stratagem the Zulus capture 
Dick and Bob and take them to their principal kraal or village. The 
lads escape death by dig ing their way out of the prison hut by night. 
They are pursued, but the Zulus finally give up pursuit. Mr. Prentice 
tells exactly how wild-beast collectors secure specimens on their native 
stamping grounds, and these descriptions make very entertaining reding. 

Tom the Ready; or, Up from the Lowest. By Ran- 
dolph Hill. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, price $1.00. 

This is a dramatic narrative of the anaided rise of a fearless, ambi- 
tious boy from the lowest round of fortune's ladder to wealth and the 
governorship of his native State. Tom Seacomb begins life with a pur- 
pose, and eventually overcomes those who oppose him. How he manages 
to win the battle is told by Mr. Hill in a masterful way that thrills 
the reader and holds his attention and sympathy to the end. 

Captain Kidd's Gold: The True Story of an Adven- 
turous Sailor Boy. By James Franklin Fitts. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, 
price $1.00. 

There is something fascinating to the average youth in the very idea 
of burled treasure. A vision arises before his eyes of swarthy Portu- 
guese and Spanish rascals, with black beards and gleaming eyes. There 
were many famous sea rovers, but none more celebrated than Capt. Kidd. 
Paul Jones Garry inherits a document which locates a considerable 
treasure burled by two of Kidd's crew. The hero of this book is an 
ambitious, persevering lad, of salt-water New England ancestry, and his 
efforts to reach the island and secure the money form one of the most 
absorbing tale s for our youth that has come from the p ress. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the 
publisher, A. L. BURT, 52-68 Duano Street, New York. 



